Offering a more sustainable dining experience to customers across the Emirates, McDonald’s UAE has introduced wooden stirrers, wooden cutlery, and paper straws into its restaurants. The transition in packaging began this month, with the full rollout across all McDonald’s UAE locations expected to be complete by the end of this year. Aligned with its ongoing commitment to reduce the use of plastic, the changes mark a significant step in the company’s journey towards more sustainable solutions.
In parallel, by Q3 2025, all hot drink lids will transition to molded fiber, and remaining PET products will be replaced with recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET). By the end of 2025, McDonald’s UAE will also significantly reduce the use of plastics in Happy Meal toys, while also increasing the use of sustainable materials across its product line, further advancing its environmental efforts.
“Introducing sustainable packaging is a key part of our commitment to environmental responsibility and supports the UAE’s vision for a cleaner, greener future by 2050,” said Walid Fakih, CEO at McDonald’s UAE. “Our sustainability journey began a long time ago, driven by valuable partnerships and impactful initiatives such as our biodiesel program, tree planting efforts, and continual improvements to our packaging. We’ve made significant changes to our packaging over the years, from eliminating Styrofoam more than 20 years ago to adopting more sustainable packaging solutions and now significantly reducing plastic use. While we recognize there is still much more to achieve, we remain dedicated to our goals and committed to delivering the quality and convenience our customers expect.”
McDonald’s UAE has long been committed to sustainability, working with Neutral Fuels since 2011 to convert used cooking oil into biodiesel, to date, McDonald’s UAE’s supply trucks have traveled over 28 million kilometers on pure biodiesel, saving more than 26 million kg of CO2 emissions and recycling more than 8.6 million liters of used cooking oil. Moreover, the company’s ongoing partnership with Emirates Environmental Group (EEG), established in 1994, has contributed to impactful conservation efforts. These include volunteering to collect over 380,000 kg of aluminum cans, mitigating 5,799 metric tons of CO2, and actively participating in tree-planting initiatives, helping to plant more than 2 million trees since 2007, which has resulted in a reduction of over 12,500 metric tons of CO2. Additionally, McDonald’s UAE also volunteers annually in EEG’s “Clean UAE” campaign, which removed more than 1,600,000 KG of waste since 2022.
The company continues to innovate in ways that reduce waste while promoting a circular economy, reinforcing its commitment as a responsible corporate citizen in the UAE.
