22 Jan 26 | Business brief
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Scaling packaging sustainability in an operational context of 14,000+ restaurants is a clear challenge, amongst logistics, local infrastructure and consumer behaviour. We discussed this with McDonald's US sustainability manager and circularity lead Amanda Marti in a recent Innovation Forum webinar.
The conversation explored how McDonald's is approaching circularity, how regulations, infrastructure and consumers impact packaging choices, and the challenges of scaling sustainable packaging solutions. This article spotlights some of the points discussed. You can access a full video recording at this link, or listen to the webinar as a podcast on all main platforms.
What does 'packaging sustainability' look like for McDonald's?
What does 'packaging sustainability' look like for McDonald's?
As a quick service restaurant, McDonald's views packaging as essential for reducing food waste and ensuring food safety, freshness, and quality. The company’s approach balances sustainability ambitions with operational demands.
Top three factors driving packaging decisions:
- Meeting the company's 2025 packaging and recycling targets
- Complying with current regulations
- Preparing for upcoming regulatory requirements (especially EPR laws and eco-modulation criteria)
2025 sustainability commitments, highlights:
- Source 100% of primary guest packaging from renewable, recycled or certified materials
- Implement in-restaurant recycling solutions across 2,000 establishments
- Contribute to a circular economy for packaging materials
Scaling solutions across 14,000 restaurants
The sheer scale of McDonald's US operations creates unique implementation challenges that require phased approaches and cross-functional collaboration.
Operational context:
- 14,000+ restaurants across the US
- ~2,000 restaurants operating under some form of packaging legislation
- Every initiative must be piloted in iterative phases, due to scale
Implementation strategy:
- Test solutions first in regions with existing legislation and recycling-familiar consumers (such as California)
- Expand to newly legislated areas less familiar with recycling
- Adapt solutions based on regional differences and consumer behaviour
- Use cross-functional alignment as key to rapid scaling
Reuse vs recycling: comparing notes with Europe
McDonald's in Europe has been rolling out reuse solutions, observing economic and operational impact on restaurants and consumers. The company is assessing if rolling out reuse solutions at scale would bring significant environmental benefits: from the European experience, McDonald's US chose to keep the focus more recycling than reuse. US restaurants are becoming smaller, making space for reuse infrastructure challenging. There is also a concern around plastics needed for reusable packaging in an increasing number of restaurants, and uncertainty around return rates. The impact and cost of losses from unreturned packaging, plus higher water and energy consumption from washing returned products, make reuse currently not particularly resource effective or economically attractive.
Consumer engagement
Consumer behaviour significantly impacts the success of sustainability initiatives, creating both opportunities and limitations for in-restaurant programmes.
Consumer engagement challenges:
- Only 10-20% of guest packaging remains within restaurants
- Reliance on delivery, online orders and drive-thru
- ~50% of restaurant packaging actually disposed of on-site
- Safety restrictions prevent crew from sorting items placed in the incorrect bin
Solutions and adaptation:
- Intentional labelling with icons and instructions on recycling bins
- Restaurant signage reinforcing recycling commitment
- Planned behavioural analysis of consumer icon interpretation
- Partnerships for consumer education beyond restaurant walls
- Educational materials for home and on-the-go recycling
- Regional adaptation: Europe has 10+ years of mainstream recycling culture, while in the US more guidance is needed for correct recycling behaviour
Navigating extended producer responsibility: collaboration and infrastructure development
EPR legislation has driven cross-functional collaboration at McDonald's, to tie compliance efforts with industry leadership.
Key elements:
- Cross-functional team active on the task: government relations, public policy, sourcing, sustainability and finance
- Wider industry collaboration: strong advocacy voice for operational challenges and to address EPR fragmentation, founding member of Circular Action Alliance (CAA)
- Partnerships play a critical role also in expanding recycling infrastructure and improving material recovery facility capabilities, particularly for polypropylene cups and fibre-based products. On this, McDonald's engages with The Recycling Partnership, Polypropylene Recycling Coalition, NextGen Consortium, and Foodservice Packaging Institute.
The webinar discussion emphasised several key themes in the packaging sustainability space: consumers engagement, in-store and infrastructure solutions, the role of iteration and adaptation in scaling, and the balance between operational realities and sustainability ambitions. For more analysis and insights on sustainable packaging from leading organisations, you can visit our dedicated webpage.
We’ll continue the conversation on these themes and more in-person at the Sustainable Packaging Innovation Forum 2025 (Chicago, October 28-29), with McDonald's and 40+ expert speakers. You can secure your pass at this here.
We’ll continue the conversation on these themes and more in-person at the Sustainable Packaging Innovation Forum 2025 (Chicago, October 28-29), with McDonald's and 40+ expert speakers. You can secure your pass at this here.
