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05 August 2019

Keeping the Community Clean with McDonald's #KUTCU

Ever since the Mini Mes were tiny toddlers I would teach them about the importance of caring for the environment. I'd get them to pop their litter in the bin after consuming snacks and I'd also let them help at home with the recycling each week, whether that was sorting it into the different coloured boxes or reusing items in our craft activities.

When they're taught from a young age and little tasks become a part of their routine I find that they soon become habit - and now they tidy up after themselves without any reminders being required (the majority of the time!).




When I heard about the Keep Up the Clean Up campaign with McDonald's (#KUTCU) I was eager to participate as the idea of their volunteers joining forces with the local community to litter pick in an area open to the public sounded both rewarding and educational.

You may have seen the poll that I popped up on social media letting my audience, and the McDonald's customers, select which part of Northampton they wanted to see targeted for the tidy and St Andrew's Road, not far from the centre, received the most votes. This was somewhere quite close to where I actually grew up and played as a child so I was even more keen to be involved. There are however clean up events being held throughout the summer across the country if you wish to join in with one nearer to your own home.




On the day we arrived at the chosen location my immediate thought was how friendly and happy the McDonald's staff were to be there. The turnout was better than I expected and there were over 20 of us in total. Several people mentioned how they really enjoyed taking part in these events as it got them outside and doing something to improve the appearance of their neighbourhood whilst also helping the wildlife in the process. These were similar reasons for wanting to join in myself.





We were all provided with a tabard, gloves, litter picker and a bag to collect the rubbish. After a quick safety brief we worked our way across the park on St Andrew's Road first. Thankfully the weather was on our side and we could work on our tans whilst working which was certainly a bonus!

Initially we all said how the park looked relatively tidy from afar but as we explored the river bank and bushes we soon discovered a lot of litter, which surprisingly included a tyre and even a baby swing.

After cleaning the park thoroughly we ventured a little further out and we actually collected over 31 bags in total - that was really impressive for around 90 minutes work.





Did you know?....

  • Staff from McDonald's conduct daily litter picks near to their restaurants, and they have been since 1982
  • McDonald's work with environmental charities on clean-up events in the UK
  • The company is now using paper straws and more than 80% of their packaging is recyclable
  • The delivery fleet within the UK has been powered by recycled bio diesel from cooking oil during the last 10 years
  • Since 2015 McDonald's has installed recycling units in over 1000 of it's restaurants making it easier to separate paper and plastic
  • In 2018 22,000 tons of cardboard was collected for recycling which is the equivalent of saving around 374,000 trees!
  • Moving forward, McDonald's has set themselves a target of zero waste sent to landfills by 2020 and they are committed to having 100% recyclable packaging by 2025




Despite only spending a short amount of time collecting rubbish I feel as though we made quite a big impact on this area and it looked so much better afterwards. Several cars even tooted as they drove past and congratulated us on the effort which provided an additional boost for our achievements. It was lovely to see so many people involved and it was a nice way to bring people together to do something positive for the area we live in.

Did you join in with one of the events? Would you attend an event in the future?
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the campaign below.


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This post is part of a paid project with McDonald’s UK and BritMums, promoting McDonald’s Keep Up the Clean Up campaign encouraging local communities to take action and work together to tackle litter in their area.

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5 comments

  1. I think it's great that McDonald's work with the community in this way. I hope our local restaurant holds an event as I would happily take part to improve our local environment. It sounds so rewarding for everyone involved.

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  2. Well done lovely, you've made such an effort on this area and collected so many bags of rubbish. Fantastic!

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  3. This looks amazing! Well done you.

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  4. It just goes to show what a difference it makes to have everyone put in a little bit of effort! I wish more businesses did this!

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  5. Wow, so much rubbish collected! Well done everyone x

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