McDonald's Environmental Issue: Impact on Company and Recommendations

This paper discusses the environmental issue of McDonald's, its impact on the company, and possible recommendations to overcome the issue. It also covers communication with stakeholders and the company's responses.

Natural
Hazards
McDonald’s
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Table of Contents
Introduction...................................................................................2
Discussion.....................................................................................2
Overview of the company.........................................................2
McDonald’s environmental issue..............................................2
McDonald’s responses.............................................................4
Communication with the stakeholders......................................5
Recommendations........................................................................5
Conclusion....................................................................................7
References....................................................................................9
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Introduction
Corporate sustainability is the balance of
environment, economic and social ethics of a business.
Organizations care about the environmental issues that
threaten the business of the organization. This paper will
focus on the environmental issue of McDonald Company,
its impacts on the company and the possible
recommendations to overcome the issue. The possible
communication to the stakeholders is also discussed in the
paper. As McDonald is one of the largest food chains,
various environmentalists with various environmental
issues criticize it. It is necessary for McDonald to identify
these issues and come up suitable solutions to overcome
these issues permanently. The environmental issues of
global warming and waste from the packaging are affecting
the revenue of McDonald inversely (Newton et al. 2015).
Discussion
Overview of the company
McDonald is a service restaurants providing fast
food. They have 35,000 restaurants situated in more than
100 countries all over the world. Four million employees
work in the organization. It serves more than 70 million
people per day. It has the largest market share in the fast
food industry. McDonalds provides a menu which includes
the Big Mac, Chicken sandwiches, hamburgers, nuggets,
salads, wraps, fries, soft drinks and deserts.
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McDonald’s environmental
issue
McDonald used a handy rule of REDUCE, RE-USE, RECCYLE AND
DISPOSE. This has given temporary benefits to McDonalds and the company
has generated revenue all the years. On the other hand using this rule has
caused environmental issue in the company thereby causing great impact in
the brand image of the company. The effect of global warming is seen in the
cows as they emit greenhouse gas, which also damages the rainforest as it
raises grains and beef cattle. The chemical substance methane emitted by
the cattle contributes majorly to the global warming. McDonald is the
largest buyer of beef in the world. It uses 350000 cattle per year. The
emission of the greenhouse gas is due to the farting of the cows all day
(Floyd and Matthew 2013). For example, in UK carbon emission are caused
by the livestock. McDonald causes deforestation in most of the rain forests.
McDonald buys meats from various privatized farms for its burgers. These
farms are blamed for causing environmental hazards as their farmland used
for rearing cattle are lush rainforests. Moreover, trees are cut down for
growing grain for poultry and livestock.
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McDonalds feed its chickens with soybeans that grow in the
rainforest of Amazon, as these soybeans are cheaper. Thus,
McDonald is responsible for destroying the forests, which
increases global warming. The effects of global warming
have a negative impact on the economy. McDonalds should
communicate with the food supplier and the transportation
department. Global warming is also effecting the
production of various seafood. The rise in the temperature
of the water damages the ecosystem of the coral reefs that
serves as home to many underwater species. Production in
the crop is also declining due to this. In Africa the seasons
for crop, growing is shortening because of dryer and
warmer weather. Farmers are abandoning their lands
because of its extreme dryness. This decreases the revenue
of the company and the food production. Transportations
are also facing the rise in the cost of fuel because of the
policies of climate change. As carbon dioxide is emitted
from the burning oil, it contributes largely in the global
warming (Newton et al. 2015). Governments have imposed
taxes to the fossil fuel. This global warming not only affects
the society’s economy but also gives rise to social
problems. The consumers of McDonald products are the
major sufferers of this environmental issue. Packaging
waste is also a major environmental hazards, McDonald is
facing and should take care of. The amount of wastes
created from a box or a bag or a wrapper used for covering
burgers should be considered. McDonald utilizes
unnecessary packing each day, which litter on the streets.
Portability and convenience act as the major reasons for
packaging waste for this industry. The demand and
requirement of the customers have evolved and changed
which gave rise to increased waste in fast food industry
which in turn in affecting the health of McDonald’s
customers. This will spoil the brand image of the company.
.
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McDonald’s responses
McDonald is aware of these issues in its organization
and has announced the various measures to its stakeholders to
overcome these issues. McDonald is making effort in reducing
the impact of deforestation and emission of carbon gases.
McDonalds have planned to not buy the soybeans from the
rainforest of Amazon. Deforestation is major global warming
driver. In order to reduce the footprint of carbon, McDonald
plans to improve the efficiency of carbon by utilizing energy-
efficient equipments and using low energy lights in all its
restaurants (Floyd and Matthew 2013) The energy mitigation is
essential as it has the same effect as deforestation and gas
emissions. McDonald has also teamed up with a project named
E-CO2, auditing companies of energy and consultancies to
measure the emission of methane gas from the cattle. It will
provide a tool for assessing carbon, which will also help in
reducing emissions of toxic gases by using various new
technologies on its farms. The new technologies can reduce
30% of the emission of the gases. McDonald has also started
verifying the sustainable beef.
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The company has to communicate with its meat suppliers
in order to reduce the supply of beef. McDonald also
redesigned the packaging with materials that can be
recycled and are sustainable. The company has also
stopped using the polystyrene coffee cups and instead
using paper cups to give a positive effect to the
environment. Foamed polystyrene is also used for
packaging food. These polystyrene travels through various
gutters and end up polluting the ocean. Paper cups
although has its own issues such as wasting the energy
and usage of chemicals during the time of its production.
The effect of the paper cups is lesser than that of
polystyrene cups. Besides packaging, recycling of
programs is introduced. McDonald is recycling the wastes
from its restaurants by turning them to electricity.
McDonald is also working with the Environmental Defense
Fund to recycle and reuse the wastes. The process of
recycling also conserves resources and reduces the
negative effects on the environment. Waste needs to be
collected, processed and sorted which also involves the
consumption of a lot of energy. Recycling also results in
the release of chemical elements, which intoxicates the
air. When such conditions of natural disaster arises
McDonald’s responds to its employees, suppliers,
franchisees to assist the problem and come out with a
suitable solution. Over many years, the system of
McDonalds has provided assistance and food to the
victims when such disaster takes place.
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Communication with the stakeholders
In time of natural calamity in the company,
McDonald communicates with the customers through their
24 hours customer service. They follow various etiquettes
to greet the customers and their problems. McDonald also
communicates with the stakeholders like the suppliers of
the raw meat, in order to solve the environmental
problems related to the well being of the people. Strict
rules and regulations are implied on the stakeholders so
that they deliver good and healthy raw materials to the
company.
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Recommendations
In order to reduce the natural hazards, McDonald
should purchase meat from various sustainable resources.
McDonald’s selection of the meat suppliers should be
corrected in order to provide healthy meals to its
customers. The rearing of the cattle and beef needs
improvement by using new techniques and methods of
raising poultry and cattle. This could be beneficial to
reduce the emission of carbon gas. McDonalds should
make a code of conduct to have clear standards for the
suppliers to meet. The strictness of choosing the right
suppliers will contribute very less to the global warming.
Reduction in deforestation will also decrease the impact
of global warming and increase the revenue and customer
base of McDonald. The company can invest in support
and research, its suppliers should adopt and other
measures that will reduce emissions from the pastures
and the livestock as the supplier will not be having
financial resources to develop new techniques. Along with
technology, sequestration of carbon in rageland, change
in the diet of the cattle and agro forestry can be beneficial
for the company’s revenue generation by reducing the
contribution of agriculture and livestock’s impact to
global warming.
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Sequestration of carbon has huge potential in mitigating
the impact of the livestock and agriculture on global
warming. This process can be carried out by planting the
deep-rooted pasture. Brachiaria plant can detain and
store approximately 29.5 t/ha carbon more than other
plants. Prevention of overgrazing and addition of
nutrients from fertilizer can have positive influence on the
storage of carbon. Improvement of diet will help to
mitigate cow’s emission of methane gas. Reduction of
methane gases in the environment is beneficial as
methane is a powerful gas than carbon-dioxide n causing
global warming. Corn-based diets for the cattle would
decrease the emission of the green house gases. Planting
more trees will enable more of carbon sequestration.
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aste by using reusable containers. They can also provide incentives or offers to its customers for brin
The company can also provide offers or discounts to encourage
its customers to bring their own plates and cups. For example,
Starbucks gives a discount of ten percent for the customers
who brings their own cups. Campaigns like these will help
McDonald to increase the generation of its profit. Introduction
of reusable containers and its promotions would help the
company to reduce waste and earn more money as the
customer base of the company will increase. A SWOT analysis
every months is necessary to analyze the organizational
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the
company. Utilizing the strength and minimizing the weakness
for exploiting the opportunities will help the company in times
of natural disaster. McDonalds can also start Reduction
programs taking place under the golden arches. These moves
of McDonald will provide AAA rating for not having any
environmental hazards in the company. McDonald can pack
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their burger and other products in cardboards, which is much
safer than the polystyrene material.
Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded that McDonald’s brand image has
decreased terribly and has been criticized for having bad
effects on the environment. In order to get meat for its
production of various products, the company has caused
deforestation and increased the emission of greenhouse gases.
McDonald also utilizes unnecessary packaging materials, which
are non-renewable and non-recyclable. Thus, it can be also be
concluded that the natural hazards caused by McDonald are
global warming and generation of waste in its packaging.
The company is aware of these issues and has started various
strategies to overcome these challenges. In order to improve
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its brand image, McDonald should stop buying soybeans from
the rainforest of Amazon and improve the efficiency of carbon
by incorporating various new techniques of farming. McDonald
still cannot guarantee that all the meats are outsourced from
sustainable sources. The stakeholders of the company in order
to save the reputation and in turn the lives of the customers
should follow strict rules and regulations. Proper monitoring
and support will help overcoming the issues. McDonald can
reduce its negative impact and effects by doing so.
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References
Floyd, R. and Matthew, R. eds., 2013. Environmental security:
approaches and issues. Routledge.
Newton, J.D., Tsarenko, Y., Ferraro, C. and Sands, S., 2015.
Environmental concern and environmental purchase
intentions: The mediating role of learning strategy. Journal of
Business Research, 68(9), pp.1974-1981.
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McDonald’s
1035 W Randolph St, Chicago, IL 60607, USA