McDonald’s crew clean up Falkirk canal paths

McDonald’s joined forces with environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful and Scottish Canals to carry out a week long clean up, travelling from the East to West Coast of Scotland.

On Tuesday, May 7, the team focused on Falkirk – with the task of cleaning up long stretches of canal around the famous Falkirk Wheel.

Thirty crew members from the McDonald’s at Falkirk Retail Park, Falkirk High Street and Grangemouth helped collect an impressive 35 bags of litter, highlighting the crucial difference the events will make to the local environment.

The five day clean up event was organised by McDonald’s community manager, Laura Doherty, who looks after community and fundraising events for eight restaurants across Falkirk, Stirling, Corstorphine, Newbridge, Grangemouth and Alloa, which are owned by local franchisee, Elliot Jardine.

The key focus was to clean up the areas surrounding waterways, to prevent litter ending up in the ocean.

Laura said: “I’m so proud of what we’re doing this week and was thrilled to see the strong turn out in Falkirk.

“The volume of people who have given up their time this week is incredible. It’s a key priority of McDonald’s to ensure that the local area surrounding our restaurants remains free from litter and an enjoyable place to live, work and visit.”

Derek Robertson, chief executive of Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: “We’re so pleased to have been part of such an impactful environment event for communities across Scotland. We are very proud of everyone’s hard work and hope we continue to inspire people to keep their local areas free from litter.

“The support from McDonald’s employees and customers is invaluable in helping raise awareness of the litter that surrounds us and the fact that we can all take action to prevent it.”

As well as this large coast to coast clean up, McDonald’s will be carrying out community litter pick events throughout the summer months as part of its Keep Up the Clean Up campaign. Every McDonald’s restaurant also carries out daily litter patrols all year round to collect all litter that has been discarded, regardless of its origin.

Crew members across the UK cover a total of 3000 miles each week on litter patrols, which equates to 150,000 miles a year and the distance of five marathons each year per restaurant.

As part of its commitment to the environment, McDonald’s is also making changes instore. More than 1000 of its UK restaurants have front-of-house recycling facilities in which all packaging, including paper cups, are separated to be recycled.