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McDonald's releases sustainability plans for London Olympics

April 4, 2012

McDonald's Corporation has announced its support of the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games' (LOCOG's) objective to deliver the most sustainable Games possible.

As a Worldwide Sponsor and Official Restaurant of the Olympic Games, McDonald's will highlight various aspects of its sustainability efforts during and leading up to the event.

For the London 2012 Games, McDonald's is building four new Olympic venue restaurants at the Olympic Park. McDonald's will recycle and reuse 100 percent of the furniture and equipment, and nearly all of the building materials from these restaurants, for future and existing locations. All types of materials -- from the beams to the wiring to the kitchen equipment -- will be labeled for sorting and relocating to future destinations following the event.

McDonald's also will highlight its long-standing environmental practices from reducing energy consumption and using renewable energy, to recycling materials and sustainable sourcing of food.

"Over the past two decades, McDonald's has made significant strides in our environmental efforts. We continue to identify ways to do even more around increasing efficiencies, using fewer resources and reducing our environmental impact throughout our restaurants and supply chain," said Bob Langert, vice president, Sustainability at McDonald's. "Our involvement with the Olympic Games is an opportunity to spotlight some of our best practices in key areas such as energy efficiency, restaurant design and sustainable supply chain, to help LOCOG meet its goal of putting on the most sustainable Games possible."

Other sustainable actions

McDonald's sustainable efforts extend beyond recycling. Used cooking oil from the McDonald's Olympic venue restaurants will be converted into biodiesel to fuel the company's delivery trucks. Since May 2010, McDonald's UK has recycled its used cooking oil into biodiesel. This effort provides a carbon savings of around 6,000 tons per year, and is the equivalent of 2,400 cars removed from the road annually.

Other environmental initiatives include:

• Farm Forward:McDonald's UK recently launched this five-part program focused on supporting British and Irish farmers, with the goal of increasing the sustainability of its supply chain.
• Open Farms: McDonald's UK began Open Farms in 2010. Through this program, key stakeholders, members of the public, farming leaders, media and local dignitaries are invited to visit some of the farms that supply McDonald's UK's menu and will supply the food for the McDonald's Olympic venue restaurants. McDonald's UK spends more than $480 million (GBP 300 million) each year on its UK supply chain, purchasing from thousands of farmers who provide a wide range of food from beef to free range eggs.
• Energy-Saving Technologies: Several years ago, McDonald's UK installed new energy-saving technologies in its 1,200 restaurants. The company served 20 percent more customers in 2010 than in 2007, but in the process saw a reduction in energy use that equates to a carbon savings of more than 65,000 tons, the equivalent of about 26,000 cars off the road.

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