2. 1
We’re
focusing
on…
Everyone knows McDonald’s – with our
famous golden arches, we’re one of the most
recognisable brands around the world. But
did you know we’re also one of the largest
customers of British and Irish farming? That
we recycle all of our used cooking oil into
biodiesel to power our delivery vehicles? That
the small army of staff in our restaurants help
keep the UK’s streets clean or that we use
renewable electricity in our restaurants?
We do these things and more because we
believe in being a modern, progressive,
responsible company, making a positive
difference in society. Our size and reach
means that whatever we do makes an impact
– we want that to be a positive impact.
As you’ll see in these pages, we’re achieving
our ambitions by continuing to focus on our
areas of strength – in particular, our approach
to energy, recycling, responsible food sourcing
and our work with our people and the
communities in which we operate. It’s through
this focus that we can make real progress
on the things that matter to our customers,
our stakeholders, and society. We’ve already
achieved much, but we’ll continue to challenge
ourselves to achieve even more.
SERIOUS ABOUT
SUSTAINABILITY
McDonald’s has a clear goal – to recycle at least 50% of our waste and
send zero waste to landfill. For a company of our size, that’s a challenging target.
However, through smarter packaging design, re-using and recycling materials,
and introducing front-of-house recycling, we’re making great progress.
Packaging, waste
and recycling
McDonald’s is proud to be a part of the communities we serve. Around 70%
of our restaurants are operated by around 150 franchisees, men and women
who are investing in their local communities. Giving something back is an
essential part of the way we operate. We do this through supporting
RMHC and Tidy groups and local activities such as clean-up events.
Good
neighbour
McDonald’s has one of the largest workforces in the UK. Training and education
enable staff to gain new qualifications, and by engaging staff in community
events we help them develop additional skills and experience.
GOOD
PEOPLE
To provide the best-quality food for our customers, we source
ingredients responsibly from over 17,500 British and Irish farms and
work closely with suppliers who are committed to meeting strict
standards, such as MSC certification. We continually look to improve
the nutritional profile of our meals.
GOOD FOOD &
RESPONSIBLE
SOURCING
P2
A business serving meals to over three million customers a day inevitably uses
a lot of energy. We are committed to reducing our carbon footprint, and by
focusing on actions such as sourcing renewable electricity we’re achieving that
aim. We champion energy efficiency, such as motion-sensitive lighting and
effective energy management systems, throughout our restaurants.
ENERGY
P5
P6
P8
p10
3. 2 3
GOOD FOOD &
RESPONSIBLE SOURCING
Good food needs
a good source Helping to ensure
plenty of
fish in the sea
Protecting fish levels
All the fish we serve is Marine
Stewardship Council (MSC)
certified. Our entire fish supply
chain has achieved the MSC
Chain of Custody traceability
standard and our packaging
has carried the MSC ecolabel
since 2011, guaranteeing that
the fish come from well-
managed, sustainable stocks.
McDonald’s is committed to providing good food to
our customers. We want our customers to enjoy food
that has been sourced responsibly and uses quality
ingredients, and to be fully aware of the nutritional
value of what they consume.
All about the source
We prioritise responsible sourcing for all the ingredients we
use. We build long-term relationships with suppliers who have
the same commitment –
some of our relationships stretch
back over 40 years.
Supporting the
farmers’ market
Our financial support for
UK agriculture
Our investment in the UK
food and agriculture sector
has grown over 40 years
to more than £850 million
annually, supporting 5,500
jobs in the sector.
What we’re made of
Increasing servings of
fruit and vegetables
Since 2007 we have
reformulated our foods to
reduce the quantities of salt,
sugar and saturated fats used,
while increasing servings that
contain at least one of the
daily recommended intake
of five a day. In 2014, we
served over
66.3 million
PORTIONS
of fruit and vegetables through
several different menu items.
Going beyond sourcing
Our unique support programme
for farmers
Farm Forward is our long-term programme
to support over
17,500 British and Irish farmers
who supply us. Farm Forward has five key areas: quality
ingredients; animal welfare; skills and training for young
farmers; environmental improvements; and knowledge
sharing, for example through our Sustainable Beef
Clubs. It includes access for beef farmers to a free
online business tool to help highlight cost and carbon-
reduction opportunities. Launched in 2012, Farm Forward
demonstrates our long-term commitment to this vital
industry and how we engage with suppliers.
good food & RESPONSIBLE SOURCING
Rest assured
Guaranteeing welfare standards
for pigs
In 2013, we switched to using only British
RSPCA Assured (formerly Freedom Food)
pork across our entire menu, including all
our sausage and bacon products – the first
high street restaurant chain to do so.
All our pork comes from British farms
that meet these strict standards,
ensuring pigs have bright, airy
environments, bedded pens and
plenty of space.
McDonald’s is taking a leading role
as one of the UK’s biggest restaurant
chains serving only RSPCA Assured pork.
It marks a major milestone for farm
animal welfare and it’s also an impressive
achievement by McDonald’s.They have
shown that it is possible to bring higher
welfare food to the everyday consumer at
an affordable price and on a national scale.”
Jeremy Cooper, CEO RSPCA Assured
4. 54
Where’ve
you bean?
Our sustainable breakfast
All of our coffee and tea comes from
Rainforest Alliance Certified™ farms that
meet high environmental standards as
well as protect the rights and welfare of
workers. But did you know that most of
our breakfast is also ethically sourced?
The pork we use in our bacon and sausage
patties comes from British, RSPCA Assured
scheme farms, all of the eggs we use are
free-range, and we are the
third-largest purchaser
of organic milk from the UK, with over
24 million litres sourced from UK dairies.
Serving up the facts
Providing nutritional information
to customers
We have been providing nutritional
information about the food in our
restaurants since 1984 – the first restaurant
chain in the UK to do so. We now provide
nutritional information about all our food
on menu boards, tray liners, packaging, our
website and via our mobile phone app.
GOOD FOOD &
RESPONSIBLE SOURCING ENERGY
Running over 1,200 restaurants uses
lots of energy, but through focusing
on key areas such as renewable power,
energy efficiency and promoting best
practice among staff members, we can
substantially reduce our impact.
Full of
energy
Powering our future
Our long-term commitment
to reducing our footprint
We’ve signed long-term agreements
with renewable energy operators who
will provide over 80% of our annual
electricity for the next 13 years. With a few
exceptions at landlord-supplied sites, the
vast majority of our restaurants now use
100% renewable
electricity.
Here comes the sun
Maximising natural light in buildings
All new restaurants are designed to make
the most of natural light, utilising ‘sun pipes’
and carefully designed glazing to assist with
internal lighting and heat retention.
More customers, less energy
Increasing energy efficiency
through investment
Although our customer numbers have
risen, we’ve improved energy efficiency
significantly since 2007 and now use
27% less energy per customer. All new
restaurants are built to the platinum
standard for green building guidelines for
energy efficiency. This includes energy
management systems to control lighting,
heating and air conditioning, energy-
efficient kitchen equipment, solar panels
and motion-sensitive lighting.
We’ve seen the light
Reducing energy consumption
All new McDonald’s restaurants have 100% LED
lighting, which uses 50% less energy than
fluorescent lighting. Over 120,000 LED
lights have now been installed across our UK
restaurants, right down to the bulbs in the
emergency lighting.
Tree-range eggs
Enhancing conditions for hens
We serve only free-range eggs across
our entire menu – and that’s not all.
Our range enrichment programme
means that producers have planted
over half a million trees on their
ranges to improve animal welfare
standards and egg quality.
Tonnes of
improvements
Improving our menu’s
nutritional value
Our reformulation work means that in 2014
we used 235 fewer tonnes of salt, 767 fewer
tonnes of saturated fat and 341 fewer tonnes
of sugar across our menu compared with 2007.
5. 6 7packaging, waste and recycling
McDonald’s goal is to achieve zero waste to landfill by
2020, recycling at least 50% of waste and ensuring what
can’t be recycled is disposed of responsibly.
Over 85% of our kitchen waste (including food, plastic
and paper packaging) is already being recycled. Our
customers also have their part to play, and we’re engaging
with them through messaging and key initiatives such as
our new in-restaurant recycling facilities.
Bin the waste
Size matters
Reducing packaging
through better design
We continue to redesign our
packaging, such as our Big
Mac® containers, which we
made smaller, resulting in a
massive saving of 434 tonnes
of packaging material.
Tapping into water savings
Reducing our water use
Conserving water, a precious resource, is
crucial for the environment. That’s why we
have installed water-saving technologies
and devices in our restaurant washrooms
and kitchens, which means an
annual SAVING OF OVER 150
MILION LITRES OF WATER
delivering emissions reductions
Creating fuel from waste
All of our used cooking oil is converted into biofuel for use by our delivery
lorries. Almost half of our UK delivery fleet now runs on this biodiesel,
creating over 7,500 tonnes fewer CO2 emissions than ultra-low sulphur
diesel (about the same amount as 5,000 years of watching TV!).
Save cups, save trees
Encouraging customers to recycle cups
Customers in new or recently refurbished
restaurants are now encouraged to place cups
into separate front-of-house recycling bins,
potentially leading to three million cups each
week being recycled and thousands of trees a
year saved. Customer recycling stations will
be in most Scottish restaurants by the end of
2015, and across the UK by the end of 2018.
Fuelled by food
Creating energy from food waste
Using anaerobic digestion, 41,000
tonnes of waste, including egg shells
and coffee grounds, were diverted
from landfill and converted into gas for
energy in 2014. In some restaurants,
the staff also donate coffee grounds
to local allotments for use as fertiliser.
Jumbo savings
How we’re
reducing waste
Recycling the corrugated cardboard
boxes used in our restaurants
avoids over 15,000 tonnes of
waste a year going to landfill – the
equivalent of 38 fully laden 747
jumbo jets. This is just one of the
ways we are working hard towards
achieving zero waste to landfill.
Packaging, waste
and recycling
Sustained effort
Reducing the environmental impact of packaging
Around 90% of the packing materials we use comes from
certified or recycled sources and wherever possible we re-use
delivery packaging, reducing the need to use raw materials and
energy on making new items.
All of the fibre packaging we use in
the UK comes from renewable sources
certified by either the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) or
the Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC).
6. 8 9good neighbour
EVERYBODY NEEDS
GOOD NEIGHBOURS
KEEPING THE UK BEAUTIFUL
Our commitment to
stopping litter
McDonald’s is an active
supporter of national Tidy
groups, such as Keep Britain
Tidy, Keep Scotland Beautiful,
Keep Wales Tidy and Keep
Northern Ireland Beautiful,
and works closely with
them on litter prevention
campaigns. Since 2010
people working in McDonald’s
restaurants have run over
1,800 events, engaging 56,000
colleagues and community
members in litter prevention.
McDonald’s, both through its
business practices and its support
for Keep Britain Tidy, has demonstrated
an ongoing commitment to reducing
litter and helping to change the
behaviour of those customers who drop
litter.They are leading the way in the
sector and developing a model of good
practice that others should look to in
their approach to litter.”
Allison Ogden-Newton, CEO, Keep Britain Tidy
We aim to be a good neighbour wherever our
restaurants are located and have a long-standing
commitment to combatting litter and keeping
localities clean. We’ve run daily litter patrols
around our restaurants
for over 30 years
and work closely with national Tidy groups.
We also make a positive impact through our
support for community initiatives.
Good neighbour
We have an obligation to
give something back to
the community that gives so
much to us.”
Ray Kroc, McDonald’s founder
A TIDY EFFORT
How we’re keeping the streets clean
We’ve been running street litter patrols by
employees for over 30 years – up to
four patrols a day,
or 1.5 million annually. It’s estimated
that employees walk over
150,000 miles a year
to keep the streets clean for everyone.
Charity begins at home
How we support our
communities
Together with our customers
and suppliers, in 2014 we raised
around £5 million for Ronald
McDonald House Charities, and
provided around
6,000 families
with accommodation close to
their children when they were
in hospital.
7. good PEOPLE
McDonald’s has one of the largest
workforces in the UK. For many of these
people, it’s their first step on the career
ladder. We offer them training and
education opportunities, and we help
them to develop additional skills and
experience through community activities.
We believe that through engaging our
employees with sustainability and
being a good neighbour through our
Planet Champion programme, not only
do we create happier, more motivated
employees, we also increase our positive
impact on our planet and the communities
in which we operate.
An engaging
approach
Championing
the cause
Engaging employees through
sustainability
Planet Champions is our pioneering
programme to engage employees and embed
sustainability in our organisation. Our 1,500
volunteer Planet Champions are our very own
environmental super heroes, championing the
cause of sustainability and encouraging and
motivating colleagues across our restaurants
every day. Planet Champions bring real value
to the business: they help the planet by driving
reductions in energy use, increasing recycling,
controlling litter around the restaurants,
and helping to organise local community
clean-ups. Over 80% of our Planet Champions
also say that helping engage colleagues in
environmental issues has increased their
own job motivation.
10 11
Getting on the ladder
Giving young people
opportunities
Around 70,000 people working
in our restaurants are aged
16–25, while
90% of restaurant
managers
started as crew members,
demonstrating our commitment to
social mobility and opportunities
for career progression.
Training for life
Supporting the education of
people working in our restaurants
McDonald’s has supported
nearly 18,000 young people
to gain apprenticeships and
66,000
to gain other nationally
recognised qualifications,
including our own university
-accredited Foundation
Degree – all valuable
qualifications for life.
Grounds for success
How Planet Champions make
a real difference
Initiatives that have come directly from Planet
Champions include donating coffee grounds
to local allotments to be used as fertiliser,
and organising ‘sustainable transport days’ –
encouraging colleagues to cycle or walk to
work instead of driving.
GOOD PEOPLE
I’m very proud to be
working for a company
that cares about the environment.
Through relatively small changes
a company like McDonald’s can
have a massive impact.”
Jon Davidson,
Planet Champion of theYear 2015
The Planet Champion
programme has offered
us fantastic results.We see a
huge influence on energy savings
and waste reduction, staff are
becoming true sustainability
ambassadors and we have been
able to build a strong relationship
with the local community.’
Cherry Lewis-Taylor, franchisee
8. Looking Ahead
Supply chain successes
We are proud of our work to improve animal welfare and
introduce more sustainable working practices, which has been
recognised by a number of recent prestigious awards, including:
What we’ve achieved
ronald McDonald House Charities
We are also proud of our continued work through the Ronald McDonald House
Charities, which has helped tens of thousands of families with hospitalised
children over the last 25 years. The money raised by McDonald’s, our
franchisees and our customers helps support families by providing free
‘home away from home’ accommodation.
Chartered
Institute of
Logistics and
Transport
Supply Chain
Best Practice
Award 2013
Compassion
in World
Farming
Good Sow
Award 2013 –
Commendation
Pig and
Poultry
Marketing
Awards 2014
Training
Initiative
of the Year
Award – Highly
Commended for
training initiative
– young farmers
RSPCA
Freedom Food
Alistair Mews
Award
for Food
Service 2014
Sustainable
Restaurant
Association
Raymond
Blanc Hero
Award
Sustainability
Hero Award
2014
Compassion
in World
Farming
Good Egg
Award 2015
12 13
To drive our sustainability work forwards
we have a series of goals for 2020:
To increase recycling to a minimum of 50% of waste and send zero waste to landfill
To increase the energy efficiency of our restaurants by a further 20%
To double the amount of fruit and vegetables we serve
To support sustainable beef production
To help make our communities cleaner and greener places
in which to live, through working to prevent litter
To further engage our people with sustainability actions
through developing an online training programme.
Beefing up our standards
Setting standards for
sustainable beef
We are committed to purchasing beef from
verified sustainable sources, and have worked
with WWF and Cargill to develop the Global
Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (GRSB).
The Roundtable includes stakeholders from
across the beef supply chain, including JBS
and Solidaridad, among others, and has now
published the first-ever set of internationally
accepted principles and best practices for
the beef industry, supporting our journey to
begin purchasing sustainable beef from 2016.
But beef production varies widely around the
world and the industry needs local solutions.
In Europe, McDonald’s chairs the Sustainable
Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Platform’s Beef
Working Group which is scheduled to publish
a Sustainability Assessment for beef farms in
Europe. SAI Platform is the global food value
chain initiative for sustainable agriculture
(www.saiplatform.org).
things we’re
PROUD OF… WHAT NEXT?
Saving the wood for the trees
Our commitment to ending
deforestation
Protection of forests and areas of biodiversity
are important issues. That’s why McDonald’s
announced a commitment to end deforestation
across the entire global supply chain, for which
we will begin developing specific time-bound
sourcing targets in 2015. The pledge focuses
initially on priority products including beef,
fibre-based packaging, coffee, palm oil and
poultry (including soy feed).
WWF helped us define our supply chain priority
areas in 2010, and we continue to work with
them on sustainable sourcing. McDonald’s also
supports the Brazilian Soya Moratorium, which
helps prevent deforestation in the Amazon
biome, and we’ve committed to purchasing only
RTRS (roundtable sustainable soy) and ProTerra
certified soy for use in our chicken feed.
9. Getting involved
Find out more
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading about the many actions
we’re taking to become a more sustainable business.
If you’d like to understand more about our goals and
achievements, you can find futher details in our global
sustainability framework at www.aboutmcdonalds.com/
mcd/sustainability/sustainability_CR_reports.html
Have your say
We think we’ve made great progress towards achieving
sustainability. However, we also know there is still work
to be done and we don’t have all the answers. We’d like
to know where you, as a valued stakeholder, think we
should be heading next, and how we might be able
to work with you to achieve these goals. We’d really
welcome your comments, ideas and suggestions to help
us on the next stage of our sustainability journey.
Please email us with your thoughts at
planet.team@uk.mcd.com
