The Big McTidy Up!
27 September 2010
Last week McDonalds launched their national campaign to tackle litter with Keep Britain Tidy.
Staff from McDonald’s restaurants across Manchester completed a mass litter pick targeting problem areas across the city. Over the next two weeks, five additional community litter events will take place in Manchester, with McDonald’s expecting to collect over 100 bags of litter.
The overall nation-wide crackdown on litter runs from 20th September to 3rd October and will see large-scale commitment from McDonald’s restaurants across the country putting on bespoke litter picking events with Keep Britain Tidy’s support. Crew will take to the streets together with volunteers from the local communities to pick up more than 5,000 bags of litter, no matter where the litter came from originally.
Phil Barton, Chief Executive of Keep Britain Tidy said: “We are delighted to have the support of McDonalds for the Big Tidy Up campaign. Two years ago our branded litter survey put McDonald’s top of the list as the most common brand to be littered on our streets. Since then they have made a conscious effort to promote the anti-litter message and support our campaigns.
“Over the next two weeks McDonald’s will be making a statement to their customers and the fast-food industry that big business can help drive change, lead by example and keep their brands out of the gutter.”
McDonald’s has been working hard since 1982 to reduce the amount of litter on England’s streets and was the first restaurant to introduce ‘Litter Patrols’ in the UK. McDonald’s crew already undertake three litter patrols every day in Manchester, collecting any litter they see from streets around restaurants.
In addition, Manchester franchisee Roger Khoryati, who is particularly concerned with the litter issue, employs a full-time member of staff dedicated solely to collecting litter from the city’s streets. Their role is to spend up to 25 hours every week walking a three mile route around the city centre each day, collecting and disposing of all street litter, no matter where it has come from. Customers can fill out special feedback cards in Roger’s city centre restaurants to nominate problem areas and McDonald’s will then work closely with Manchester City Council to ensure that these areas are attended to, often by incorporating them into the litter collector’s route.
Through McDonald’s ongoing efforts to tackle litter in local communities, it is aiming to raise long-term awareness of the issue and to encourage people to keep their local area litter free.