McDonalds not to give away free plastic toys in Happy Meals

My name is Edie and I am 8 years old.
We all love toys but many plastic toys end up in landfill or in the ocean. I would like to change this. I emailed Ms Hodson (Vice President of business and strategy at McDonalds) on 4 May, I haven’t had a reply yet so please support me by adding your name to the petition.

Dear Ms Hodson

I am Edie, l am 8 years old and I live in Bristol.

I have an idea for you. I am really worried about the fish. I learned a sad fact at school that it is thought that in 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the sea so I think you could have collector cards instead of plastic toys in your happy meals.

I think kids will be more excited to go to McDonalds. It would be kinder to the environment and l think parents would like it too.

I have lots of ideas for McDonalds if you want to hear them? I watched The Lorax by Dr. Seuss last night and this is the quote from it “Unless someone like you cares an awful lot, nothing is going to get better it’s not”.


UPDATE response from McDonalds 29/5 and Edie’s reply 31/5

McDonalds
Thank you for taking the time to write to us.

I appreciate your concerns around the use of plastic, we agree that it is an important issue and we are working hard to reduce our impact on the environment. We are replacing plastic straws with paper ones and we no longer use helium balloons in our restaurants.

We love your idea of collector cards. We are working on how we could reduce the amount of plastic we use in our Happy Meal toys and one of those ways is with our book promotions that happen during the year. Toys are swapped out for books and there are tokens on the Happy Meal box which parents can use to purchase a book for £1. We hope this means more children can enjoy reading.

We’d also like to reassure you that once they’ve been enjoyed, our plastic Happy Meal toys can be recycled depending on where you live and where the appropriate facilities are available.

Thank you again for taking the time to write to us and for your great suggestion. I hope this letter shows that we understand your worries and we are working towards a better McDonald’s and Happy Meal.

Edie’s reply
Thank you for your reply. I am a bit upset that Ms Hodson didn’t write a reply.

I love the idea of your books could you do them more often? I am very happy that you like my idea of collector cards. Could you give people a choice of plastic toys or collector cards? I think you would be surprised, KIDS ARE SMART! If you can’t do collector cards maybe you could ask us if we want a plastic toy on your screens.

The plastic toys can be recycled but people have told me that they just go in the bin. Please could you pass this letter to Ms Hodson


I look forward to receiving your reply.