McDonald's caused uproar on social media after announcing a major new change to one of its most iconic menu items, the McFlurry.
The fast food giant declared in an Instagram post that it would be 'cancelling the McFlurry', worrying those who have grown to love the classic item. Thankfully, people were somewhat relieved after McDonald's added 'spoon' to the end of the announcement, clarifying that it was the cutlery that comes with McFlurry that would be changing, not the item itself.
Their plastic spoons will now be replaced with paper-based cutlery as the chain will be "cancelling plastic cutlery and replacing it with a new sustainable, paper-based material across all branches in the UK and Ireland."
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The announcement added: "We’re doing this to remove over 850 tonnes of plastic from our supply chain a year, as part of our Plan for Change".
Although a number of people applauded the restaurant's take on the issue in an attempt to help the climate, there were others who were far from pleased with the change, arguing that the new paper spoons will go soggy after a while.
One person commented: "Paper straw can barely handle a large coke, how the hell is it gonna handle a McFlurry"
Another said: "I tried the paper based spoon, and both me and my friend agree, it's a horrible change".
A third declared that they would bring their own cutlery rather than use the new spoons, and they said: "I will bring my own spoon then".
Many people said they would prefer a wooden spoon, as that would be both environmentally friendly and not get soft in the ice cream. Someone commented: "Hopefully they’re made with bamboo otherwise it’s game over for McFlurrys"
Despite the negative backlash, many were pleased with the change. One person said: "This is brilliant and will make such a difference, if everyone makes small changes then combined it’s makes a huge positive change to the environment"
Another added: "It might only appear to be a little thing, but it adds up to a bigger thing, keep up the good work."
The new cutlery will be rolled out gradually from November 8 onwards. It has been made using renewable, FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified pressed paper and is understood to be fully recyclable and compostable.
Nina Prichard, head of sustainable and ethical sourcing at McDonald's, said: "As a business, we're committed to taking action on packaging and waste and increasing our use of sustainable materials.
"We're pleased to announce another step forward in eliminating single-use plastics and it's great to be switching our famous McFlurry spoons to this new paper-based material."
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