McDonald's has made a major change to their Happy Meals in the UK and Ireland.
The fast-food chain has pledged to remove non-sustainable hard plastic from its iconic Happy Meal.
Instead, from 2021, Happy Meals will include either a soft toy, paper-based toy or book.
The restaurant says the move will remove over 3,000 metric tons of plastic from the business from 2021, the largest reduction by McDonald’s to date.
Between now and then, however, McDonald's will trial, test and learn from several new sustainability initiatives.
These include trialling paper packaging for any Happy Meal toy in March 2020, and will be introduced for Happy Meal books from August, removing the plastic polybag and a further 200 tonnes of plastic.
From May 2020, McDonald’s will offer everyone the choice of either a book or a toy with every Happy Meal in the UK and Ireland. This gives families the choice to opt out of a plastic gift in every restaurant ahead of their removal in 2021.
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McDonald's will also run a five-week nationwide toy amnesty, collecting any unwanted plastic toys in its 1,350 restaurants and recycling the returned plastic into play equipment for Ronald McDonald House Charities across the UK and Ireland.
Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer, UK & Ireland, Gareth Helm, said: "We care passionately about the environment and are committed to reducing plastic across our business including within our Happy Meal.
"Families have high expectations of us and we’re working as hard as we can to give them the confidence that their Happy Meal is as sustainable as possible.
"Getting that right is a big responsibility, but we believe the changes we’re making today have the potential to make a big difference.
"We want to use our reach and influence to bring customers with us on the journey towards more sustainable living. Today’s announcement reflects our mission to continue to trial, test and learn from innovative sustainable solutions.
"Most importantly, we’re committed to listening to our customers and working with our suppliers to ensure we are taking every possible opportunity to provide quality food sourced, made, packaged and enjoyed responsibly."
