This weekend, McDonald’s franchisees, restaurant teams and customers were joined by sports legends Freddie Flintoff and Gareth Thomas, and presenter Roman Kemp, in the UK’s biggest ever litter pick - organised by McDonald’s as part of its Keep it Clean campaign.
The week-long event saw 1365 volunteers, from over 150 McDonald’s restaurants, reality TV stars, sporting legends, radio presenters and music artists, work together to collect a total of 1092 bags of litter. Showing support for the cities and towns they love, celebrities were out in force, getting stuck into the local litter pick events organised by McDonald’s to help rid streets and parks of the plight of dropped litter.
The full list of those involved includes:
- Freddie Flintoff in Manchester
- Vicky Pattison in Newcastle
- Joey Essex in (of course) Essex
- Gareth Thomas in Cardiff
- Lady Leshurr in Birmingham
- Roman Kemp in Kent
- Faye Winter in Exeter
- The Brownlee Brothers in Leeds
The events followed a week of rallying from the celebrities and McDonald’s restaurant teams across the UK, encouraging the public to get involved in the biggest ever UK litter pick, either through organised events or with friends and family. As further incentive to get picking, McDonald’s is proud to continue its partnership with LitterLotto - which encourages everyone to pick up litter when they see it and share a picture of their litter pick to win a prize. With a jackpot of up to £25,000, picking up litter could really pay off.
“We’ve been overwhelmed by the support of all those getting involved this week. Together we have collected over 1000 bags of litter," shared Louise Page, McDonald’s UK&I Head of Consumer Communication & Partnerships. "With three daily litter picks already taking place seven days a week across all our UK restaurants, we’re committed to tackling the issue of litter at a local level and it’s fantastic to see both public and famous faces get behind our mission to Keep the UK Clean. Our continued partnership with LitterLotto offers an additional incentive for everyone to pick up litter across the UK – it’s so easy to do and someone will win £25,000 for lending a hand in our fight against litter!”
Simon Jacobs, Lord of Litter at LitterLotto, added: “We’re excited to be working together with McDonald’s to incentivise people to bin their litter responsibly, and experience the joy of binning by winning prizes, through the LitterLotto app. Together with McDonald’s UK, we’re on a quest to reduce litter, protect wildlife, clear our rivers and oceans of waste material - and make more waste available for recycling.”
McDonald’s has organised the UK’s biggest ever litter pick as it hits the 40-year milestone of formally collecting litter in local communities. With three litter picks organised by every restaurant team each day across the UK and Ireland, McDonald’s crew collect on average 27 tonnes of litter every year, covering a total of 5,000 miles each week.
In addition, McDonald’s has recycling units in over 1,100 of its restaurants, it recycles coffee cups from all coffee retailers and continues to develop a new industry standard for paper straws.
Download the LitterLotto App here.
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