Earth is our home, and as it is well-known, There is no Planet B!!!! April 22 which marks Earth Day reminds us to continue honoring Earth through environmental conservation and sustainability initiatives.
McDonald’s India’s commitment to a healthier planet through our Go Green initiatives remains informed and steadfast.
Sustainability initiatives matter when efforts are consistent. We’ve implemented sustainability initiatives in our restaurants that continue, going forward:
Agriculture
• Adopted responsible agricultural practices validated by McDonald’s Corp.
• Sourced RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil) Mass Balance certified palm oil.
• Explored futuristic agricultural technologies like hydroponics, wherein plants are grown using a water-based nutrient solution, aiding in moderating finite land use.
• Promoted crop rotation to protect soil freshness.
• We use Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee beans. Rainforest Alliance practices sustainable coffee and cocoa farming – better worker training, safer working conditions, and lower deforestation.
• Introduced protected farming for tomatoes to enhance food safety, and improved cold storage for onions to reduce wastage.
Biodegradable packaging
• We prioritize the use of paper/ biodegradable material (corn starch), including the use of FSC®-certified paper in customer-facing packaging.
• Single-use plastic in customer-facing packaging has been replaced with wood, PLA, and paper. PLA is a thermoplastic monomer derived from renewable resources like fermented plant starch.
Bio-diesel
• Reused cooking oil as per guidelines.
• Pioneered the use of converted bio-diesel in transportation; pooled used oil from restaurant locations was converted into bio-diesel – then used in our trucks. Neat, huh?
Energy
• Running Energy Management Systems in our restaurants aid us in being energy-efficient, like converting used cooking oils into bio-diesel.
• We have temperature cloud controllers that create the desired control temperature while maintaining air-conditioning, using auto on/off functions.
• We have similar auto on/off controllers across high energy-consuming kitchen equipment in our restaurants.
• Evaporative air-cooling kitchen systems and economizers are important sustainability initiatives to ventilate fresh, filtered, clean, and cooled air into a space.
• We use LED bulbs and order assembly table sets; we’ve also installed solar roof top panels in some McDonald’s restaurants.
• In the back areas of our stores, motion sensors control lighting consumption wastage.
• We’ve reduced our carbon footprint + enhanced operational and cost efficiencies.
Poultry and fish
• Implemented an effective animal welfare policy, auditing farms for animal health and welfare.
• We’ve advocated against the use of hormones in animals.
• We utilise only vegetarian feed.
• We follow the best international practices for biosecurity.
• We source Marine Stewardship Council certified fish, including sourcing seawater fish (not from farms) and only approved varieties (no endangered species).
Water
• Installing waterless urinals + low-flow aerator sprays in our restaurants reduced our water consumption significantly.
• Water is used in restaurant operations (cooking, dishwashing, cleaning etc.), and our RO reject water is repurposed to be used in our restaurants’ rest-rooms.
• We use a high-recovery Reverse osmosis (RO) water purification system.
• We encourage the farmers we work with to implement drip irrigation – plant productivity is aided, thanks to the optimal-range moisture levels.
Go Green initiatives: Replace, Recycle, Reuse, Reduce Our commitment to the planet remains essential as is our love for serving you. We believe nostep in the right direction is too small. For e.g., the next you order in through the McDelivery® website and McDelivery® App, click the option to not send cutlery. ♻️ If you’re visiting our restaurants, use the McDonald’s App and our in-store cutlery and trays. Little measures, GREENER future!
