

And as part of its sustainable beef plan, McDonald’s UK now sources all of its beef for UK restaurants from the UK or Ireland. I t has also pledged to get deforestation out of its supply chain. McDonald’s is making somewhat more progress – it was rated 48 in the UCS report. It has not made any public commitment to eradicate deforestation in its beef supply chain. It only got the 5 points because it discloses the locations of some of its beef suppliers in South America.

Subway was also featured in the UCS report where it received a score of 5 out of 100.

In 2016 the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) rated Burger King zero out of 100 for its effort to protect the rainforests. It also does not appear to be doing that much to achieve the goal. However, it has been strongly criticised for setting the woefully unambitious target of 2030. How companies are doing on deforestationīurger King has pledged to get deforestation out of its supply chain.
GIANT BIG MAC HELLTHY JUNK FOOD FREE
This means that while the direct supplier may be free from deforestation the cattle could have previously reared on ranches that were not. It has been shown that deforestation can often be hidden as cattle are moved from ranch to ranch. And that does not even include forest cleared for growing animal feed. It estimates that around 65-70% of Amazon rainforest clearing is due to cattle farming. The Rainforest Partnership states that beef is beyond doubt the biggest cause of deforestation in the Amazon. But the beef has long been linked to deforestation, as trees are cleared to make way for cattle. The hamburger is perhaps the most archetypal fast food item. The EU is also moving towards a ban on single use plastics where readily available alternatives are available, as well as looking into shifting more responsibility to companies for dealing with the packaging they produce. In April 2015 Oxford became the first UK city to impose a complete ban on plastic take-away boxes. The UK Government is currently considering a tax on single use plastics, including polystyrene take-away boxes, following the success of the 5p charge on plastic bags. Industry-wide co-operation is likely to be required in order to effectively tackle the issue, and regulatory bodies can also play a key part. Packaging is a problem inherent in the concept of fast food that can be eaten on the go. Packaging requires industry-wide solutions However, currently only 10% of McDonald’s outlets recycle, and a lot of its packaging contains plastic.

McDonald’s has announced a commitment that by 2025 “100 percent of McDonald’s guest packaging will come from renewable, recycled or certified sources”. Companies which are doing a bit better on packagingĮat. In 2016-17 the government reported that 23% of all litter recorded was food packaging, including fast-food packaging. While there is an argument that in some cases plastic packaging can help reduce food waste by increasing the longevity of food, when it comes to fast food there is no such excuse.įast food packaging is also one of the biggest sources of litter. There is no need for this- there are takeaway containers on the market made made from 100% recycled plant fibres.
