McDonald: Environmental Policy, Sustainability, and Government Regulations - Essay Example

McDonald's: Environmental Policy, Sustainability, and Government Regulations McDonald’s Corporation are known to be one of the largest if not the largest fast-food restaurants in the world. The business notably serves close to 47 million customers every day and specializes mainly in hamburgers although it also sells French fries, soft drinks, desserts, breakfast items, chicken products, and cheeseburgers.McDonald’s as an organization recognizes the value that resides in conserving the environment and appreciates the fact that current and future generations ought to benefit also from the world’s natural resources 9McDonalds Corporation (n.d)). The company also recognizes that its long term business goals would be served better if it helped protect community resources and the natural environment that is affected by its activities (McDonald Hotels, (n.d)). The corporation has been affected by the depletion of resources such as forests as this has resulted in an increase in costs of packaging material and the need to adopt new materials.

Indirectly, the depletion of oil reserves has affected the organization as many products that the company uses are made by other organizations that rely on petroleum. These products have continuously increased in price which means McDonald's has to spend more than it was initially.Government and Environmental RegulationsOwing to government regulations, McDonald's has had to take measures to reduce its solid waste through composting, recycling, re-use, and reduction. In its Waste Reduction Action Plan, the company has taken 42 initiatives and established pilot projects that are aimed at controlling waste.

The company has also resorted to using biomass in some of its restaurants to cut its carbon footprints and waste by using more efficient packaging as recommended by the US Environmental Protection Agency.The organization has also had to take measures to reduce its energy consumption by 25 percent in restaurants on top of reducing its water consumption (McDonald's Corporation (n.d)). In an effort to comply with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) requirements, the company has strived to make changes and improve its building designs (McDonald's Corporation, (n.d)). Instituting all these measures has cost the organization substantial amounts of money.

As a result of adopting the use of biomass power plants, the organization has cut its energy cost by up to 50% in some of its restaurants (McDonald's Corporation (n.d)). Expanding this project to all its branches and franchises will save the organization a lot in energy costs. By using corn-based bioplastic material instead of conventional plastics for packaging material and reducing the size and weight of packaging materials, the organization can save a lot of cash. Also worth noting is the amount of money the company would save by using recycled materials and re-using packaging materials in the global market.

In addition, the company can save a lot globally by replacing conventional bulbs with low energy consuming fluorescent lights.ConclusionMcDonald’s takes a particular interest in maintaining its corporate social responsibility and has taken several measures to ensure that its activities are conducted according to law, ethically, and in line with international norms. In order for the organization to maintain a favorable corporate image, it should desist from engaging child labor, take further measures to reduce energy consumption, and adopt clean energy sources such as biogas.

This will also go a long way in reducing its energy costs in the global market. In addition, McDonald should introduce more healthy foods such as vegetables in its menu with an aim of helping the population reduce cases of obesity that is especially prevalent in the United States.