McDonald’s in Ukraine sends nearly 200 tonnes of waste for recycling per month

McDonald's in Ukraine sends almost 200 tonnes of waste per month for recycling, the company's press service has told Interfax-Ukraine.

"In June, when 85 restaurants out of 101 in 22 Ukrainian cities were connected to the sorting program, 169.6 tonnes of paper waste of various types, 15 tonnes of plastic, about one tonne of tetrapak and 10 tonnes of food waste were sent for recycling," Head of McDonald's Corporate Communications in Ukraine Alesya Mudzhyri said.

Sorting test program was launched on September 3, 2020. In total, from September 2020 to June 2021, 1,400 tonnes of paper waste, 102 tonnes of plastic, 14 tonnes of tetrapak and 50 tonnes of food waste were processed.

According to Mudzhyri, the sorting lines are designed specifically for McDonald's Ukraine for five factions, which is more than in other countries. The sorting lines collect plastic, paper, cups, liquid and more.

More than 20 prototype stations were tested to find the "perfect formula" for sorting. The company has already spent UAH 10 million on launching the project, installing sorting lines and training employees. In particular, almost 10,000 employees have received special training on working with waste and now help visitors to sort correctly in the halls.

Now the company has more than 30 partners throughout Ukraine engaged in logistics, collection, transportation, sorting and recycling of waste.

In particular, Obukhivvtorresursy is the partner in the metropolitan area in terms of logistics and sorting. According to a representative of Obukhivvtorresursy, more than 95% of the waste brought from McDonald's goes for further processing, while the depth of processing of unprepared waste, which the company receives from the population at another base, is only 20%.

The sorted paper cups are then taken to the Zmiyivska Paper Mill, after processing, from the resulting paper at another enterprise, paper bags are made for McDonald's for take-away delivery.

Sorted cardboard and paper go to other partners. At the Zhytomyr Cardboard Plant, they are used to make corrugated boxes, at SEM ECOPACK (Zaporizhia) – drink stands, etc.

The processing of plastic, polyethylene, and food waste has been established. A solution has been found even for coffee grounds – it is added to fuel briquettes, which are produced at Obukhivvtorresursy.

"McDonald's is minimizing the use of plastic, we plan to completely eliminate it by 2025," Mudzhyri said.

Source: www.en.interfax.com.ua