McDonald’s Happy Meals’ days with plastic Pokémon and Peanuts characters are gone. By the end of 2025, the world’s most popular burger company is planning to reduce the use of virgin fossil fuels in its famous toys by 90%.
McDonald’s next campaign will radically change the Happy Meal toy line. All while providing a special treat for its young clients. By the end of 2025, the fast-food conglomerate aims to have “substantially reduced plastics and offered climate-resilient Happy Meal toys” all around the world. That may not appear to be a significant contribution to our ocean-wide plastics problem. However, it will help in the reduction of non-recyclable garbage.
McDonald’s restaurants in over 100 countries across the world, provide Happy Meals. In 1979, the burger chain began selling the meals. After growing concern about children’s meals at fast-food restaurants, the company updated their choices in 2018 to include options that were significantly lesser, sodium, saturated fats, and sugar.
Through partnerships with major studios such as Disney, Warner Brothers, and Hasbro, Happy Meal toys have evolved into a marketing tool for films, television series, and other toys. According to Amy Murray( McDonald’s V.P. of international advertising and marketing enablement), McDonald’s sells over a billion toys every year.
However, McDonald’s has already begun to strive toward more environmentally friendly packaging. And the Happy Meal toy transition has already begun. Restaurants in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and France have distributed Minions toys made from sustainable materials.
As a result, “virgin fossil fuel-based plastic use has decreased by 30% since 2018.” McDonald’s is also looking into alternatives to the plastics used in its toys. By building playgrounds and trays out of discarded toys, the company is in the “early phases of exploring further positive impact” in the UK and Japan.
McDonald’s has recently initiated a campaign in Japan to encourage customers to recycle their old Happy Meal toys. Plastic serving trays are created from the recycled items.
“Our next generation of customers is aware of environmental preservation and what we can do to make our company more sustainable. Jenny McColloch, McDonald’s sustainability chief, stated, “We’re always focusing on making a massive impact, including transforming iconic themes like the Happy Meal.”
“With this transformation for our toys, we’re working closely with suppliers, families, toy experts, and engineers to create more ecologically creative designs and help push demand for recycled materials so that McDonald’s communities can continue to smile for decades to come.”
This decision comes after the company confirmed that by 2025, it has produced 100% of its product packaging from renewable, recyclable, or certifiable sources. Last year, it stated that it was already 80% of the way to attaining that target.
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