Posted on 12/09/2023 7:39:26 AM PST by NautiNurse
A French law has forced the fast-food giant to serve fries and sodas in washable containers; now it is fighting a wider rollout
PARIS—A McDonald’s MCD -0.44%decrease; red down pointing triangle on a buzzy boulevard here offers a glimpse of what the future of serving fast food could look like. The burger giant doesn’t like what it sees.
For those dining in, french fries are served in durable red containers, soda is dispensed into clear washable glasses and chicken nuggets come in hard plastic white bowls. When customers are finished eating, they are asked to drop the containers into a bin to be washed, dried and reused.
The assortment of 21 variously sized reusable cups, bowls and fry sleeves are a world-first for McDonald’s, which since its inception has used disposable packaging to keep food moving quickly and utility and labor costs low.
The new containers have been introduced to comply with a French law aimed at reducing waste that has compelled the burger giant and other fast-food restaurants to serve dine-in orders in reusable containers.
The law has proved costly and complex for McDonald’s to comply with and some of its restaurants have yet to meet a year-end deadline that is fast approaching. But McDonald’s biggest worry is that France could serve as an example for other countries.
[Snip]
About 20 reusable french fry containers take the space of more than 100 disposables, says Adrien Benech, who works in national operations for McDonald’s.
[Snip]
McDonald’s says its return rate for reusable containers in France is over 92% and the containers are used on average 29 times before being damaged, thrown away or taken by customers.
[Snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
All that packaging waste as you call it has made our lives infinitely better. We don’t have to waste time going to the store every day. We can buy things that may last for weeks in the packaging while in our refrigerator.
This communist fetish of reuse and recycle is just a joke.
I do reuse what makes sense. I recycle nothing because it doesn’t make sense and I already feel good.
Baltimore County recently instituted a commie $.05 bag tax. I went to McDonald’s and saw the bag tax pop up on the screen. I told them to remove it and I don’t want the bag.
They removed it and I still got the bag.
>McDonald’s chicken nuggets are an abomination and a crime against humanity.
Wait until you try the McRibs.
You are right about making our lives better. No having to wrap fish in newspaper or carry your own containers. Much healthier and safer food that way, too.
Like you, I reuse what makes sense. This fall I started re-using the heavy duty contractor bags I use for yard waste. I did that mainly because the bags are about $0.85 each and we hauled maybe 125 of them to the dump. We can reuse each bag three or four times, so our savings add up.
We actually gave our recycle container back to the garbage company because most of the stuff that goes into that bin eventually winds up in the landfill anyway.
We paid that bag fee in California for a couple decades and HATED every time we paid it. Here in Idaho, we don’t pay that.
I just lament the sheer volume of waste in our garbage bin. It’s just the two of us and there isn’t that much waste, but enough to fill a big bin.
The ones we served were lined with something similar to parchment paper. Almost like those hard brown or white institutional paper towels out of the roller. Same type of paper sheets. :)
“ Wait until you try the McRibs.”
Simply the worst food I’ve ever taken a bite of (only one, it went into the trash after that one). Worse than lutefisk and salt-dried octopus.
To stupeed French frogs….paper and cardboard are made from trees grown to make paper, and are recyclable. It costs more, and uses more energy to wash and sanitize containers.
Of course the politicians who forced this stupid law did the calculations of imaginary “greenhouse” gasses produced by the production and disposal of mass produced paper products versus the new cost of mass producing plastic containers (and replacing all the ones that will be stolen, thrown away, or broken) the thousands of new dishwashers, the sanitation chemicals for washing the containers, the new plumbing for the dishwashers, the energy required to heat the water, and then the disposal and treatment of all the waste water.
I bet they put more law enforcement on this than they will fighting the terrorist gangster invasion force they allowed to take over.
so waste GALLONS of fresh water to save a couple grams of paper and plastic...
what would Gia think???
Good points. Thanks for your thoughtful post.
Those crazy Frenchies.
right? well, it’s not like they’re using it to shower with, so...
In a few years, foodie snobs will be begging for it as a break from crickets.
Never eaten surimi?
Um, it’s currently Ribwich time here. Love them, 2 a day for lunch until they’re gone.
LOL. I avoid any Japanese restaurant that spells crab with a “k.”
I think those have been washed and are being stacked for storage on a shelf. Maybe not.
The crickets are a distraction, just like “renewable” energy.
When they succeed in ending food and “fossil fuels” there will be no replacement food or energy.
Yep....remember them fondly. But back then chicken ‘nuggets’ probably would have been seen as some disgusting part of a chicken or something. Used to eat at Zesto’s here and loved it. Pressure cooked fried chicken, real potato fries and real sodas.
LOL. I wonder what the Japanese character for “K” is?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.