McDonald’s to scrap plastic toys from Happy Meals in the UK

McDonald’s is replacing plastic Happy Meal toys with eco-friendly alternatives as of next year.

From 2021, Happy Meals will come with a soft toy, a book, or a paper-based toy.

McDonald’s hopes the move will save more than 3,000 metric tonnes of plastic, which would be the firm’s biggest single reduction to date.

It will start trialling the new toys from May, when parents and children will be offered to swap their plastic toys for a book or paper toy when they buy a meal.

“We care passionately about the environment and are committed to reducing plastic across our business including within our Happy Meal,” said Gareth Helm, marketing officer at McDonald’s UK.

“Families have high expectations of us and we’re working as hard as we can to give them the confidence that their Happy Meal is as sustainable as possible. Getting that right is a big responsibility, but we believe the changes we’re making today have the potential to make a big difference.”

Image source: https://news.mcdonalds.com/chicken-mcnugget-happy-meal-pick-your-resolution

—–

To stay in the loop with the latest news, interviews and features from the world of toy and game design, sign up to our weekly newsletter here

More Recent News

Our top 10 most read interviews of 2024

This year’s top 10 features interviews with Exploding Kittens’ Matthew Inman, Hasbro’s Angus Walker and Jazwares’ Magdalena Eichhorn.

AMIGO to meet game inventors at Mojo Pitch 2025

“We are thrilled to be back at the Play Creators Festival in 2025,” said AMIGO’s Alessandro Montingelli.

Think Influence eyes toy partners for Fisch

The popular Roblox game launched earlier this year and has over 800,000 concurrent users.

Transformers Age of the Primes figures land on Hasbro Pulse

The Transformers Age of the Primes Titan Class Thirteen Star Optimus Prime figure comes with a cannon blaster, shoulder blasters, and the Zodiac orb.

People of Play welcomes Shannon Swindle as Director

“I look forward to creating meaningful experiences, celebrating the work of toy and game designers and continuing to support the incredible people in this industry that I love so much,” said Swindle.

Rubies readies UK launch for Bluey costumes

“We are confident that Rubies’ new Bluey dress-up options will be popular with families on this side of the world, after the positive reception they received in Australia,” said Anita Majhu, Head of Licensing (Softlines) at BBC Studios.