McDonald's volunteers from Brighton restaurants take part in the Great British Spring Clean

McDonald’s Franchisee Yas Turen who owns and operates the Brighton restaurants, and who organised the event, said: “I couldn’t be prouder of my fantastic team for giving their time to our 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. It’s particularly exciting to be a part of initiatives like this this year as McDonald’s celebrates its 50th year in the UK.”

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.