McDonald’s and Essity recycle paper cups into toilet roll in circular economy initiative
18 Oct 2021 --- McDonald’s waste paper cups will be recycled into toilet paper as part of the fast-food chain’s partnership with Swedish hygiene product producer Essity. The project is estimated to save up to 12,000 tons of waste per year.
Beverage, milkshake and ice cream containers from McDonald’s German stores will be recycled into hygiene paper for Essity’s Tork brand of workplace hygiene products.
Essity is the world’s second-largest supplier of consumer tissue. Its offering includes toilet paper, household towels, handkerchiefs, facial tissues, wet wipes and napkins.
“It’s exciting to work with our customers on sustainability projects like this, combining our recycling technology and knowledge of circular services with McDonald’s Deutschland,” says Don Lewis, president of Essity Professional Hygiene.
“[Environmental] sustainability ambitions are enabling a future business model to help close the loop.”
Sustainability in the toilet
The collaboration is part of the Tork PaperCircle project, Essity’s initiative for recycling used paper towels into toilet paper. Under the partnership, McDonald’s will begin supplying waste fiber-based beverage containers to Essity.
McDonald's waste in Germany will be converted into toilet rolls.Following a trial with McDonald’s, Essity was able to demonstrate it could shred the containers effectively at its mills, turning the pulp into Tork toilet paper.
McDonald’s cooks up sustainable solutions
The project follows a number of environmental sustainability goals set by McDonald’s as part of its pledge to further the global aim of keeping global warming temperatures below 2°C.
In July, McDonald’s piloted a reusable coffee cup scheme in partnership with TerraCycle’s reusable packaging service, Loop, to reduce single-use waste to landfills.
In a “global first” for the fast-food giant, six McDonald’s locations in England began introducing returnable cups for cleaning and reuse.
For a £1 (US$1.37) deposit, customers can opt to have their hot drink in a returnable Loop cup. As an incentive, participating customers receive a 20p (US$0.27) discount on their purchases. In-store, customers can receive their £1 (US$1.37) deposit back in the form of cash, a voucher or simply get a new reusable cup for their next hot drink.
In October, McDonald’s Canada began introducing wooden stir sticks, paper straws and wooden cutlery – excluding McFlurry spoons. The company expects to expand the scheme to its 1,400 restaurants nationwide by December 2021.
Wooden stir sticks are currently being rolled out in restaurants, with wooden cutlery and paper straws to follow this month. The “last plastic straw” is expected to be used by the end of the year.
Edited
By Louis Gore-Langton
