These new McDonald's trays are made from food waste
01-25-2112:01 AMWORLD CHANGING IDEAS
At franchises throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, you’ll now get your food served on an innovative new material.
BY ADELE PETERS 2 MINUTE READ
If you eat at a McDonald’s restaurant in São Paulo, Brazil, your food will come on what looks like a typical plastic tray. But the material is actually made largely from food waste and other trash.
Arcos Dorados, the largest independent McDonald’s franchise in the world, which operates stores throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, is rolling out thousands of trays made from the material as it works to shrink its use of virgin plastic. The material, called UBQ, is unique in that it’s recycled from a mix of materials.
“UBQ’s process begins with unsorted household waste destined for landfills—banana peels, chicken bones, and other food leftovers; cardboard and paper; diapers and mixed plastics—everything besides glass and metal, which we remove and send out to recycle,” says Albert Douer, executive chairman of UBQ Materials, the Israel-based company that produces the material.
By keeping trash out of landfills, where food waste, in particular, emits potent greenhouse gases as it rots, the material has a “climate positive” footprint, meaning it helps avoid more emissions than it causes. Ideally, of course, the world needs to throw out less trash, and materials have the highest value when they’re recycled individually. But the new technology can help in the imperfect recycling system that exists now.
More:
https://www.fastcompany.com/90596651/these-mcdonalds-trays-are-made-from-food-waste
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https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=edit&forum=1127&thread=142714
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