When POD was asked if she’d like to go on a litter pick, her immediate response was “are we doing it for the environment?”. Even at the age of seven, she understands we all have a responsibility to look after our planet. POD has seen videos at her school of islands with more ocean waste than fish. She’s seen litter discarded on the street and wonders why it’s not been put it in a bin or taken home.
The Blue Planet effect and the subsequent war on plastic have made everyone aware of the damage we’re causing to our environment. Its currently estimated around 12 billion tonnes of plastic waste will be in landfill or our natural environment by 2050 if we don’t act now.
Many companies have already made changes and are working towards reducing their environmental impact. For example, for the past ten years, McDonald’s UK has powered its delivery fleet with recycled biodiesel made from cooking oil. The company is also testing paper straws with a rollout in all restaurants scheduled for completion in the first half of next year.
McDonald’s UK is committed to doing its bit for the environment and is a founding partner of Keep Britain Tidy’s Love Where You Live campaign. It’s a 12-year anti-littering initiative that encourages communities to help tackle litter in their local area. Since its launch, 2,600 events have taken place involving a staggering 80,000 volunteers. This is in addition to local activity undertaken by each of the McDonald’s UK restaurants. They patrol the streets three times a day to collect any litter that’s been discarded, regardless of its origin. The UK crews cover 3,000 miles each week on litter patrols – a whopping 150,000 miles a year. Or put another way, that’s five marathons each year per store!
We joined McDonald’s in Oxford Road, Reading for a Love Where You Live event taking place that weekend to help the local community with a litter pick. This was just one of a number of McDonald’s clean-ups taking place across the UK, in partnership with BritMums. We were met by franchisee Richard Forte, who has been a resident for 22 years and owns all 7 McDonald’s restaurants in Reading. Richard is passionate about the area and is continually doing what he can to support the community.
We were equipped with gloves, a litter picker, rubbish bags and a tabard before joining the Love Where You Live briefing. There were around 30 volunteers at the event so we were split into four groups with a pre-determined route. Each group was also equipped with a sharps bin and first aid kit, just in case. POD was thrilled with her grabber and got stuck in straight away, referring to us all as the “litter ninjas”.
It’s amazing how much rubbish there is on our streets when you’re out looking for it. We didn’t have to try very hard either, just up the road from the restaurant we discovered a pile of plastic bottles, cans and crisp packets. It’s so sad to see especially when there are bins just a short distance away. Our route took us down residential streets within a 2-mile radius of the restaurant. If you’d like to see footage from our Love Where You Live event, watch my Instagram Stories Highlights here. POD is an absolute superstar!
McDonald’s UK is truly committed to doing its bit for the environment and it’s making a difference. Richard Forte, franchisee of the Reading restaurants, wasn’t just there for the briefing, he got stuck in just like everyone else and was hands-on throughout. We were stopped a few times by residents asking what we were doing and who we were doing it for. The response was hugely positive. Our two-hour stint in Reading saw us collect 14 bags of rubbish between us. Imagine what a difference it would make if more people were involved in this kind of initiatives? One thing is for sure, it felt good doing something positive for a community.
Disclaimer: This post is part of a paid project with McDonald’s UK and BritMums, promoting McDonald’s Love Where You Live campaign encouraging local communities to take action and work together to tackle litter in their area.
What a little star POD is! Knowing how to care for the environment and for being so involved. I think this is a great initiative by McDonald’s to care for our communities and well done to them on taking the lead.
I think it’s fabulous that you have gone out with a group of people to help clear up your area.
From the photos I can see how much your daughter enjoyed the event.
Thank you for making a difference
Way to go POD, she looks like she had a great day. Such a great initiative and very important for them to learn this first hand. Well done taking part xx
It’s great that children are learning about ways to help the environment, from school and television. And great, as parents, that we can help facilitate that. And amazing that McDonald’s is so active in helping!
You’ve taken some lovely photos of such a lovely event. It’s great that they do so much isn’t it.
Looks like she really enjoyed the litter pick. When I was around the same age I used to go litter picking with my friends in order to help the environment. I think it’s great that children are still learning about how important the environment is.
Ah well done! Looks like you had a decent turn out too!