The fast food chain has said that from 2021 Happy Meals will come with a soft toy, a book, or a paper-based toy.
McDonald’s has vowed to replace Happy Meal toys with non-plastic versions from next year in an effort to reduce its environmental impact.
The move should save more than 3,000 metric tonnes of plastic at McDonald’s UK business from 2021, which would be its biggest single reduction to date.
The firm will start trialling the new toys from May, when parents and children will be offered to swap their plastic toys for a book or paper toy when they buy a meal. This will offer customers the choice to opt out of the plastic toys in every outlet, McDonald’s said. It will also run a ‘toy amnesty’ to let customers bring in unwanted plastic toys in its 1,350 sites across the UK. McDonald’s said it will then melt the plastic down and make it into toys for its charity in the UK and Ireland.
Gareth Helm, the company’s chief marketing officer in the UK, said: “We care passionately about the environment and are committed to reducing plastic across our business including within our Happy Meal. Families have high expectations of us and we’re working as hard as we can to give them the confidence that their Happy Meal is as sustainable as possible. Getting that right is a big responsibility, but we believe the changes we’re making today have the potential to make a big difference.”