Fast food giant McDonald’s has announced that it’ll be phasing out the plastic in its iconic Happy Meal toys in the coming years.
While those plastic Happy Meal toys are nostalgic for many of us, the plastic they use has become a serious problem.
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Happy Meal toys are iconic.
I think it’s safe to say that most of us had toy collections that included Happy Meal toys growing up.
These plastic toys came ‘free’ as part of a Happy Meal, and were usually of better quality than comparable giveaways.
Plastic waste has become a real problem.
Happy Meal toys might bring on warm, fuzzy feelings, but the reality is that they were always made of single-use plastics. These plastics take an inordinately long time to degrade and choke our oceans and waterways.
Simply put, the pollution isn’t worth the nostalgia.
McDonald’s is looking for greener alternatives.
McD’s says they’ll “drastically reduce plastics and offer sustainable Happy Meal toys globally by the end of 2025.”
This will result in an approximate reduction of 90 percent in fossil fuel-based plastic use compared to 2018 numbers, according to McDonald’s.
It’s a big change.
While it represents a major shift in how McDonald’s manufactures its toys, the company had already been moving in that direction. A lineup of Minions toys used less plastic than older toys, and McDonald’s plans on following that momentum to ensure that future toys are made from renewable sources.
Happy Meals are still alive and well.
From the sounds of things, the toys will appear, on the surface, to be the same durable Happy Meal fare that so many of us know and love. The differences will be under the hood, so to speak.
The R&D has begun.
“We’re exploring ways to replace the final traces of virgin plastics in inks and laminates,” the McDonald’s press release noted . “This feels a lot more consequential when it means matching the color scheme of your favorite movie characters, or creating construction materials strong enough to build a towering T-Rex that holds up throughout even the most rambunctious play time.”
It’s a big undertaking.
The biggest news here is that McDonald’s plans to make this change global. With close to 40,000 restaurants worldwide, and more opening every year, it’s a big job.
Let us know what you think of this change in the comments section!
