McDonald’s net zero carbon restaurant prompts greenwashing backlash
McDonald’s has opened its first net zero restaurant, but the move has been branded as “McGreenwash” by critics of the fast food giant.
The restaurant, based in Shropshire, is powered through solar panels and wind turbines, and insulated with sheep’s wool.
The building’s cladding is made from recycled IT equipment and household hood while signage has been created from used coffee beans.
The fast food chain said it will be a “blueprint” for its other 1,400 UK sites – but did not comment on which locations the changes would be rolled out at first.
McDonald’s food should be “served in restaurants that are sustainable for the future,” said company spokesperson Beth Hart.
But Greenpeace UK head of food and forest Anna Jones has accused the retailer of greenwashing.
“If meat and dairy are still the main course on McDonald’s menu, then this new restaurant initiative can only be labeled as it is: McGreenwash,” she declared.
“If McDonald’s genuinely wants to cut its global carbon footprint,” she continued, “it needs to think beyond emissions from specific UK sites and start to urgently shift it’s entire business model to meat-free alternatives.”