McDonalds are increasing their corporate social responsibility initiatives with the second phase of their ‘energy from waste’ programme. Chip packets, burger wrappers and other greasy waste will be diverted away from the landfill sites and converted into energy, starting with a selection of 25 London restaurants. The long term mission is to send no waste to landfill sites, which is an admiral concept.

The programme is being run in partnership with Veolia Environmental Services, who are ‘waste-to-energy’ specialists. According to McDonalds, the initiative will prevent 2,500 tonnes of rubbish being dumped in landfill sites each year (about 1,000 tonnes per restaurant), which will instead provide the fuel for electricity which will be fed into the national grip. According to the Carbon Trust, the London environmental efforts of McDonalds has already yielded a reduction in carbon emissions of 48%.