McDonalds vows to reduce plastic in Happy Meal toys

US-based fast-food giant McDonald's announced plans to reduce plastic in its famous Happy Meal toys.

McDonald's said it was considering alternatives, such as three-dimensional cardboard toys or board games with plant-based or recycled materials, to help it "drastically reduce plastics."

Sustainable Happy Meal toys will be rolled out by the end of 2025, McDonald's said.

McDonald's restaurants in the UK and Ireland already offer only soft toys, paper-based toys or books with the kids meal.

Eliminating 90% of 'virgin' plastic

McDonald's sells more than 1 billion toys each year.

"Transitioning to more renewable, recycled, and certified materials for our Happy Meal toys will result in an approximately 90% reduction in virgin fossil fuel-based plastic use against a 2018 baseline," McDonald's said in a statement.

In recent years, the world's largest restaurant chain has tried to respond to criticism over its use of plastic.

In 2018, Mcdonald's said it would make recycling available in all of its restaurants by 2025. The company has also switched to environmentally friendly packaging materials.

As the name implies, virgin plastic is newly produced rather than recycled. Since the 1950s, roughly 8.3 billion tons of plastic have been produced, with only around 9% of that recycled.