Deb Kiner, dkiner@pennlive.com. “McDonald’s Is Testing a Change for Its Cups on Its ‘Journey Towards Good.’” Pennlive, 27 Jan. 2023, www.pennlive.com/food/2023/01/mcdonalds-is-testing-a-change-for-its-cups-on-its-journey-towards-good.html.
Mcdonald’s is getting rid of plastic straws in favor of new lids that don’t need straws. The new lids are part of Mcdonald’s journey to reduce plastic waste. Many praise Mcdonald’s for being innovative in reducing plastic waste by using these new kids on most of their drinks and using straws that make up a large portion of plastic waste from fast food restaurants. On the other hand, many people see the lids as virtue signaling because their cups are still pliable, and they only get rid of a small amount of overall plastic with their publicity stunt. Moreover, many restaurants still give straws with their cups making the movement redundant.
Mcdonald’s is on the right track regarding reducing plastic waste with the new lids. However, they are doing it in small steps that are seen as publicity stunts rather than attempts to decrease the amount of plastic waste they produce. If Mcdonald’s was serious about reducing plastic waste, they would eliminate the plastic cups alongside their straw and use more eco-friendly packaging. On top of that should focus on more major pollutants of plastic, such as shipping their food products that use cellophane plastics. All the food they receive comes with this plastic, and they should look for alternatives to reduce their waste. They also need to be more strict with their restaurants regarding reducing plastic, as only some restaurants follow the regulations, such as not giving straws, which defeats the purpose of their new lids. If Mcdonald’s wishes to significantly impact plastic waste in the United States, it must come up with more innovative solutions than sippy cup plastic lids.
I am shocked they are making this change considering how easy and affordable it is for them to use. I am also very interested in seeing the backlash that they may experience. I ultimately am happy to see them making the switch over.
Thanks for the comment. McDonald’s definitely will receive backlash from this change as some will believe that the company is becoming too “woke” while others will think that McDonald’s is not doing enough to reduce their waste problem.
I definitely agree with your response. A lot of companies like Mcdonald’s take measures that are very performative, such as labeling certain orders as “eco-friendly” or in this case, serving more “sustainable” products. Perhaps the companies are taking other steps to be more eco-friendly, but I feel that it is hard to trust them when it seems that the only instance of them taking steps is when they switch their store products.
Thanks for the comment. I agree that most of these massive companies aren’t actually working to reduce their waste but are instead pretending they are in order to seem more moral to their audience.
I agree with your response. I see that many companies are trying to move in an eco-friendly direction like McDonalds is, and I agree with your point that this is not enough by just changing there cup design. One question I have is, what are some more innovative solutions other than just sippy cup lids?
Thanks for the comment. One of the alternatives to the sippy cup style lids is to move away from plastics and other non-biodegradables in the packaging and instead use biodegradable packaging that will massively reduce the waste problems of mega-corporations like McDonald’s.
I agree with you that it’s a pretty unproductive change, these lids are just wasteful plastic in another form. I think they should focus their energy, time, and money more on repurposing their plastic and veering away from it as a whole rather than just repackaging it.
Thanks for the comment. I completely agree that these new lids have a little positive impact and in order to create real change corporations must completely move away from non biodegradable packaging.
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