A petition asking fast food companies to stop giving out “single-use plastic” toys gets almost half a million signatures
After learning about plastic pollution in school, two young girls started a petition asking McDonalds and Burger King to stop giving away free plastic toys in their kids meals.
The toys are not recyclable and often end up in the trash after just a few hours of use.
“You open a plastic bag to get another plastic item, which is played with for five minutes and then probably goes in the bin,” said Rachael Wood, whose daughters Ella and Caitlin, ages 10 and 7, started the petition.
”It made us very sad to see how plastic harms wildlife and pollutes the ocean …
That’s why we want Burger King and McDonald’s to think of the environment and stop giving plastic toys with their kids meals,” the petition says.
The petition now has nearly 500,000 signatures, and McDonald’s is already looking into more environmentally friendly alternatives including mini books and board games.
“We have an active global working group exploring the production of more sustainable toy options,” a McDonald’s spokesperson told Pop Culture Media.
“In the UK in particular, there will be a reduction in the number of hard plastic toys given away … including a mixture of board games, books and soft toys, and serve as a test to understand more about what customers in this market want while we continue to execute our global work.”