Burger King, McDonald’s, Hasbro, Lego, Pepsi Co, Danone and Nestlé: these are only some of the big companies that have declared war on plastic waste. The world is waking up!

Following the policy of reducing plastic waste, Burger King is removing plastic toys from children’s combo meals. As of right now, the initiative is being tested in the UK, but the movement should extend across the whole fast food chain soon enough. This is part of “The Meltdown” campaign, which encourages audiences to bring old plastic toys to a BK store by September 30th. Toys will be melted and reused in children’s play areas. Burger King will stop distributing plastic toys in children’s snacks and is launching a campaign for customers to return gifts in an attempt to reduce plastic waste in the environment. According to the company, recycling and disposing of plastic toys in restaurants will save about 320 tons of disposable plastic. The change also occurs following worldwide calls for less use of plastic.

In the same vein, McDonald’s has announced that it will follow a similar path and allow parents to replace Happy Meal toys with a pack of fruit at predetermined stores. By early 2020, the network will also always try to offer customers the choice between a book and a plastic toy. Initiatives to reduce the use of plastic in fast food have grown in recent times. McDonald’s recently traded its plastic straws for paper, removed the plastic caps from its McFlurry ice cream and removed the disposable plastic from salads (meals and salads are now served in cardboard containers). These new procedures, according to company estimates, should substantially reduce plastic waste.

Hasbro is another company that went along with this line of thinking: the toy maker wants to remove all plastic packaging by 2022: it is promising to cut down on the plastic components used to pack its products. The toy company will begin phasing out plastic from new packaging, including elastic bands and vacuum packaging. Starting next year, it will begin to carry out a plan that will virtually remove all plastic from new product packaging by the end of 2022.

Lego is also seeking alternatives, but they are betting on biodegradable materials. The Danish company plans to replace petroleum material with vegetable fibers or recycled bottles, changing the ingredients of the product… But without modifying its original idea.

And last but not least, we also deserve a mention to these three giants that invested in 100% biodegradable plastic bottles: Pepsi Co, Danone and Nestlé each announced projects which include the use of vegetable raw material. Pepsi Co has joined Europeans Danone and Nestlé Waters in their project to develop 100% biodegradable plastic bottles made entirely from sustainable vegetable raw materials. The announcement was jointly made in September by the three groups! Last year Danone and Nestlé Waters had already made a first move in this direction, joining the American company Origin Materials to create plastic bottles (PET) with cellulose fibers (used cardboard, sawdust and other materials). PET (polyethylene terephthalate), a recyclable material, is one of the most widespread plastics in the world, widely used for food packaging – mainly bottles. Of the 20 million tons produced each year in the world, 99% comes from the petrochemical industry.

In recent years, consumers around the world have expressed concern about the impact of plastic waste on the environment and more and more companies are looking to use recyclable material, or less polluting, materials for their packaging.

via GIPHY

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