Mar 28 - McDonald’s To Phase Out Foam Beverage Cups
McDonald’s may soon say good-bye to its foam coffee and hot tea cups.
Nearly 2,000 of its restaurants will be testing a double-walled fiber cup for hot beverages as a more sustainable alternative. Since the 1990s, the restaurant has switched from foamed food containers to paper alternatives for most of its menu items, with the exception of the hot beverage cups and pancake platters.
This latest change was prompted by a shareholder resolution filed by the As You Sow group last year, asking the company to examine the impacts of different beverage containers to the environment and to improve its recycling goals. Almost a third of shareholders supported this resolution.
Read more in articles here and here.
Expanded polystyrene foam, or eps, has a disproportionate impact on our environment. Lightweight and prone to breaking into smaller pieces, it’s hard to manage as trash and even harder to clean up once it becomes litter. Moreover, styrene, a building block of polystyrene, was recently listed as a likely human carcinogen.
You can make a difference. Learn more about polystyrene pollution on our website, and take action against plastic pollution.
Learn more about SB 568, the statewide bill to phase out eps food containers, and take action.