|
|
With millions of customers around the world, McDonald’s recognizes the importance of conserving natural resources and the benefits they provide for current and future generations. We also recognize that our long-term business goals will be better served if we help protect the natural and community resources that support and are affected by our activities.
We have a long-standing record of industry leadership in environmental conservation. Our achievements have been recognized by such organizations as the Audubon Society, Conservation International, Keep America Beautiful, the National Recycling Coalition, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Our approach focuses strategically on our major environmental impacts and is guided by world-recognized independent experts.
|
|
 |
| Our Neighborhoods. As good citizens and good neighbors, McDonald's and our independent owner/operators help keep the local environment clean and attractive. |
|
- Our standard operating procedures include regular litter patrols of the areas around our restaurants.
- Owner/operators and regional company organizations support local clean-up days with free meals for volunteers and promotional incentives for participation.
|
| Our Restaurants. At McDonald’s, environmental preservation at the restaurant level involves a broad range of initiatives to conserve natural resources and minimize pollution. |
|
| McDonald’s volunteers clean up forest preserve in DuPage County, Illinois |
|
|
Solid Waste Management
Since 1990, McDonald’s has worked with Environmental Defense to reduce waste in our operations. We have learned to control solid wastes by: |
|
- Reducing the amount of materials we use initially.
- Recycling what we can.
- Using products made from recycled materials.
|
| The many changes we have made have produced large savings in natural resources and reductions of waste. During the 1990’s alone, we: |
|
- Recycled 2 billion pounds of corrugated cardboard.
- Purchased more than $3 billion in products made from recycled materials
- Eliminated several million pounds of packaging.
|
We have continued making changes in our packaging, achieving reductions averaging 8.5 million pounds per year.
Electrical Energy Conservation
Electrical energy conservation is an important part of our environmental program. We know that managing our energy uses will conserve energy sources like natural gas and coal and help control greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to smog, acid rain, and global warming.
During the 1990's, we significantly reduced electrical energy consumption in our restaurants by replacing conventional lighting with more energy-efficient fluorescent lighting. We were an early member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Green Lights program and a recipient of the agency's Green Lights Partner of the Year award.
In 2007, the Environmental Protection Agency again recognized our energy conservation efforts by naming us Energy Star Partner of the Year.
Our goal is further signification reduction in electrical energy use. We are making progress toward this goal by: |
|
- Providing owner/operators and restaurant managers with training, advice, and tools for assessing electrical energy consumption and savings potentials.
- Establishing optimal equipment maintenance procedures and schedules.
- Installing additional energy-efficient equipment in new restaurants and during renovations.
- Testing innovative equipment that may produce further electrical energy savings through new technologies.
- Developing an electrical energy use tracking and benchmarking system for our company-operated restaurants. This will help measure progress toward our energy reduction goal.
|
Our Supply Chain. Taking our environmental commitment to the next level, we are incorporating socially responsible practices into our supply chain.
Working with Conservation International, we have launched an initiative to integrate a broad range of socially responsible practices into our worldwide food supply chain. This is a significant strategic advance in our established responsible purchasing programs. The guidelines that provide the framework for the initiative address key natural resources and impacts, such as water, air, soil, and biodiversity.
We have opened the world's first HFC/HCFC/CFC-free restaurant, in Denmark, to test the feasibility of using various types of equipment that use no refrigerants associated with global warming. |
Our Policies. McDonald's environmental programs and practices in the U.S. carry out principles set forth in our global statement of our commitment to the environment.
We also have a specific rain forest policy that commits us to purchasing only beef that was not raised on rain forest or recently cleared rain forest land.
Worldwide Environment Program. For information about McDonald's worldwide environmental efforts, visit the Our Values section.
|
|
|
|
|
Printer-Friendly
