Wind power, recycled tyres, potato glue: McDonald’s opens its first UK net zero carbon restaurant
The restaurant, located in Market Drayton, Shropshire, has sustainable features including a drive-thru lane made from recycled tyres, wall art made from used coffee beans, and kerb stones made from recycled plastic bottles.
It is powered by two wind turbines and 92sq m of solar panels that produce 60,000 kWhs of power per year, and its walls are insulated with British sheep’s wool that might otherwise have gone to landfill.
Building cladding is made from recycled IT equipment and white household goods such as washing machines, amounting to 250sq m of recycled materials. There will also be wall art made from recycled polystyrene cups, fixed in place with potato starch from McDonald’s potatoes.
It also features a biodiversity garden and nature trail designed by schoolchildren from Market Drayton Junior School. The garden will collect rainwater from the carpark and provide a habitat for frogs and other creatures
The restaurant has been designed to retain the familiar McDonald’s look and feel to ensure it can be replicated. It will act as a blueprint for future McDonald’s restaurants around the country and has been designed to be net zero emissions standard in both construction and every day operation.
“At McDonald’s we believe that our food needs to be served in restaurants that are sustainable for the future,” says Beth Hart, McDonald’s vice president supply chain and brand trust.
“Market Drayton is a big step towards making that a reality, enabling us to test and put into practice what a net zero emissions building, both in build and use, really looks like.
“We’ve already started to roll out some of these innovations to other restaurants, but what is exciting about Market Drayton is the fact it will act as a blueprint for our future new builds.”
The opening of Market Drayton is one of a number of initiatives McDonald’s is undertaking as part of its Plan for Change – a business and sustainability strategy to help it achieve its aim of net zero emissions across its entire UK and Ireland business, including its value chain, by 2040.
McDonald’s has also committed to ensuring that by 2023 all furniture in new and refurbished restaurants will be made from recycled or certified materials and designed to be recycled or reused.
