McDonald's going green

Standard McDonald's logo

In Germany, McDonald's is set to go all green as it swaps its trademark red backdrop for its famous Golden Arches to green.

McDonald's are hoping to shed off the image that many in Germany associate them with - obesity and litter.

According to Spiegel Online International, "McDonald's Germany wants to reposition the restaurant as a bastion of environmental friendliness. Ronald McDonald is becoming a tree hugger."

"Simplicity and a focus on the essentials is the new design philosophy," Holger Beeck, deputy head of McDonald's in Germany, said in a Monday statement.

All 40 new restaurants set to open in 2010 in Germany will have the new design. In addition, the façade of the new restaurants will include natural stone and wood. By the end of the year, more than 100 McDonald's restaurants will be outfitted with the new design style.

"With the new appearance, we want to clarify our responsibility and relationship with natural resources," Beeck said.

Criticism

McDonald's has a long way to go until it can prove itself as a truly green company, mainly to environmental groups.

McDonald's faces criticism over their mainly meat products and the huge amount of packaging that comes with them.

In 2008, McDonald's had to redesign the lids of McFlurry's after hedgehogs were found dead in the containers. As many as 100 of the creatures were found to have starved to death after getting their heads stuck in the lid openings. Yet it took two years before the lids were redesigned.

Eco-friendly image?

In April last year, McDonald's Germany opened its first "EE-tec" restaurant in Achim, near Bremen. It was ceremoniously opened with the flick of a light switch, revealing energy-efficient appliances. According to the company's website, its wrappers are made out of 72 percent recycled packaging while its tray-liners, napkins and toilet paper are made out of 100 percent recycled paper.

The German-subsidiary of the US giant is already known for pioneering products in design. Though the first McCafe opened in Australia, the concept originated in Germany. Today, there are 612 McCafes in Germany's 1350 restaurants.

A new pilot project will soon see the first McCafe's opened without being attached to its burger-and-fries-serving counterpart.

In recent years the company has warmed to "greener" practices, including environmentally friendly refrigeration and converting used oil into bio-diesel fuel.

More than 2.58 million people eat at McDonald's daily in Germany, while the company employs 58,000 people.

The future

Some franchises in the UK and France have already started using the new colour scheme for the logo, said McDonald's Germany spokesman Martin Nowicki.

"This is not only a German initiative but a Europe-wide initiative," Nowicki told The Associated Press.

Related News:

It's a wrap |Sustaining the food chain

Like this article? Get the RSS feed: