In Illinois, fast food giant McDonald’s is improving its packaging and significantly reducing waste with a new goal of 100% renewable, recycled, or certified sourced packaging by 2025. While preferring Forest Stewardship Council certification, they are also setting a goal to recycle guest packaging in 100% of McDonald’s restaurants versus the current 10%. This expands upon McDonald’s existing goal that by 2020, 100% of fiber-based packaging will come from recycled or certified sources where no deforestation occurs. Currently, 50% of McDonald’s customer packaging comes from renewable, recycled or certified sources and 64 percent of fiber-based packaging comes from certified or recycled sources.
McDonald’s is making a concerted effort to be more sustainable as the world’s largest restaurant company. As reported in NUU in June 2017, McDonald’s McCafé coffee producer in Manitoba, Canada is now offering 100% compostable McCafé Keurig-compatible pods made from coffee bean skin and other compostable plant-based biomaterials. And as reported in NUU in November 2016, McDonald’s chose two new russet potato varieties for their french fries that are more efficient, stress tolerant and sustainable than the former potato varieties.