Over 25 volunteers including crew members from the restaurant, owned and operated by local Franchisee Anne-Marie Clarke, the St John Ambulance Badgers, members of the Oval and Tudor TRA and other local volunteers, collected an impressive 25 bags of rubbish between them.
During the litter pick, the volunteers tidied up streets and greens in Upper Gornal and Wrens Nest.
Local McDonald’s Franchisee, Anne-Marie Clarke, who owns and operates the restaurant and who organised the event, said:“I couldn’t be prouder of my fantastic team for giving their time to their local community, ensuring the areas we all enjoy are clear of litter – making them a better and brighter place for those that live here. We continue to put people at the very heart of what we do, and this is just one example of our dedication to being a good neighbour. I’d also like to thank our longstanding partners, the Oval and Tudor TRA and the St Johns Ambulance Badgers, who joined us for this and did a fantastic job!”
McDonald’s crew members have been cleaning up litter dropped in local communities for over 35 years. Crews across the UK cover a total of 5,000 miles each week on litter patrols (where they collect all types of litter, not just McDonald’s branded packaging). This equates to 260,000 miles, or the distance from Earth to the Moon since the programme began in the late ‘80s.
McDonald’s is tackling litter in local communities, both by litter picking and reducing the amount of waste its restaurants produce. The brand has been working to make recycling easier over the past four years too, and since 2015, has installed over 1,100 new recycling units, meaning it’s easier to separate plastics and cups for recycling in 85% of its restaurants. McDonald’s also collects used oil from its kitchens and turns this into enough biodiesel to fuel more than half of its delivery fleet.