Posted by Snow in 
McDonald’s has become a target of consumer criticism no matter how they wrap their burgers. But the packaging problem still stacks up in our landfill space while clearing our forests. The old wrappers have way to clamshell foam minibowls that attracted their own ire from postconsumer watchdog groups.
Over a billion served mean over a billion wrappers a year, and landfills aren’t magically disappearing. Each individually wrapped foamshell in plastic coated foam is usually packaged inside another paper bag with a few paper napkins–that’s about 75 per second, worldwide.
Greasy bags, non-biodegradeable foam clamshells and throwaway food combine for waste of legendary proprtions. This paper makes its way into a trashcan after only about 5 minutes of chomping and discard activity. estimates regarding food thrown in addition to waste packaging are chilling.
For years, consumer waste advocates have lobbed criticism at McDonald’s in particular regarding packaging waste. Seeking to counter this consumptive cycle, University of the Arts grad student, Andrew Millar, designed biodegradable packaging for McDonald’s from grass paper, which has naturally grease-resistant properties.
Millar designed his burger solution with care. The outer part of bag is made from recycled pulp paper, and grease-proof grass paper lines the inside. Both are highly biodegradable and most definitely more sustainable than clear-cutting fresh paper and lumber stocks for pulp.
It is for the honchos at McDonald’s to decide if they can embrace the solution for their green waste campaign. Certainly the public is ready to see one happen. If every fast food enterprise retooled their packaging to significantly green packaging as shown here, landfills could get a breath of fresh air (literally).
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