McDonald's sees restaurants as green laboratories
From low-flow water faucets to converting French fry oil to fuel, McDonald's Corp is testing ways to reduce the impact its 31,000-plus restaurants have on the world's resources.
The hamburger chain, whose iconic brand and presence in 118 countries has made it the target of anti-globalization activists, is using its scale and broad franchise ownership to address the issue.
It is trying out a slew of individualized environmental initiatives, said Bob Langert, vice president of corporate social responsibility, in an interview, adding that it did not make sense to force one solution onto its entire system.
"In Japan, which is very land constrained, it's about waste. In Australia, the big issue is water," Langert said. "There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to environmental initiatives."
In the last 20 years, McDonald's has made a variety of environmentally driven changes that are, for the most part, invisible to customers. They included reducing the amount and type of packaging it was using, moving a third of its fish purchases to more sustainable sources and implementing a program to buy goods made from recycled materials.
Langert became involved with the company's environmental initiatives after working on its 1988 move to eliminate containers made with chlorofluorocarbons, which were found to contribute to ozone depletion.
"We've eliminated the low-hanging fruit and medium-hanging fruit through the last 20 years," Langert said, but added that the pace of environmental change at McDonald's is picking up.
Increasingly, individual markets and franchisees are spearheading their own "green" initiatives, he said.
In Switzerland, for instance, the company installed dry urinals in its restaurants, cutting its water consumption by nearly 10 percent. Meanwhile in the United Kingdom, some restaurants are converting used frying oil into biodiesel that is used to fuel the trucks delivering goods to the stores.
In addition, in 2005 a franchisee in Savannah, Georgia, built the first McDonald's restaurant certified by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system.
- 1 Infosys promises "paradigm shift in in-store shopping experience" through ShoppingTrip360
- 2 Russian beauty on top of the world
- 3 Hospital: Egyptian woman gives birth to septuplets
- 4 Tata Steel enters JV with Vietnamese cos. to set up $5 billion steel plant
- 5 Oberoi Group charts aggressive expansion plan, breaks up with Hilton, seeks tie-ups with real estate cos.
- 6 Diving diva of China won the gold medal in 3m spring board
- 7 Reliance Retail to bring Hamleys magic to India
- 1 "No, Thank you," India's Mahindra & Mahindra tells GM's Hummer
- 2 STAR Group, Balaji Telefilms announce split
- 3 US Exim Bank to increase Indian infrastructure portfolio, enters pacts with ICICI Bank, others
- 4 Volkswagen Beetle set to scorch Indian roads from 2009
- 5 Oberoi Group charts aggressive expansion plan, breaks up with Hilton, seeks tie-ups with real estate cos.
- 6 Infosys promises "paradigm shift in in-store shopping experience" through ShoppingTrip360
- 7 Jindal Steel to invest nearly Rs.40,000 crore in Chhattisgarh, Orissa steel plants
- 1 "No, Thank you," India's Mahindra & Mahindra tells GM's Hummer
- 2 STAR Group, Balaji Telefilms announce split
- 3 US Exim Bank to increase Indian infrastructure portfolio, enters pacts with ICICI Bank, others
- 4 Volkswagen Beetle set to scorch Indian roads from 2009
- 5 Oberoi Group charts aggressive expansion plan, breaks up with Hilton, seeks tie-ups with real estate cos.
- 6 Infosys promises "paradigm shift in in-store shopping experience" through ShoppingTrip360
- 7 Jindal Steel to invest nearly Rs.40,000 crore in Chhattisgarh, Orissa steel plants
|
|
