Feeding the Landfills:
How Fast Food Restaurants are Unnecessarily Creating Mass Amounts of Waste
Brian Gamgort
Management 302: The Stakeholder Organization
12/18/14
(Image from Ken Loyd)
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Executive Summary
In the United States packaging and containers account for approximately
30% of all municipal solid waste, and the problem is growing bigger every year.
There are many sources of this packaging and container waste, but one of the
biggest culprits are fast food restaurants who aim to provide convenience and food
“on the go” but end up indirectly creating mass amounts of waste in the long-run.
Although the fast food restaurants often produce and distribute this packaging
which ends up as waste, they are not legally responsible for where it ends up and
the duty is placed upon the customers to determine whether or not it is properly
disposed of. With so much dependency on customers in the current system to
dispose of waste, whose responsibility is it really and how can fast food restaurants
encourage their customers to value environmentalism more?
There are five core steps that can be implemented by every fast food
restaurant to answer these questions and create solutions.
1. Integrating corporate responsibility into company values
2. Removing any unnecessary food packaging
3. Reducing the environmental impact of essential packaging without compromising
its role
4. Creating cost savings for both the businesses and customers
5. Sharing environmental information with and values with external parties
Based upon these core steps are also specific, realistic solutions that fast food
restaurants should implement in order to reduce the amount of packaging waste
they generate as well as their impact on the environment as a whole.
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Table of Contents
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………..…..4
Statistics………………………………………………………………………………………...….5
The Role of Food Packaging and Containers ……………………………………….5
The Role of Customers in the Issue …………………………………………………….7
Benefits of Source Reduction……………………………………………………………...9
Financial…………………………………………………………………………………………………..9
Environmental………………………………………………………………………………………..10
Universal Steps Towards a Solution……………………………………………….....11
Integrating corporate responsibility……………………………………………….………..11
Removing unnecessary packaging…………………………………………………………...12
Reducing the environmental impact of essential packaging……………………....13
Creating cost savings for business and customers…………………………………….13
Sharing environmental information with external parties…………………………14
Proposed Solutions for Fast Food Restaurants…………………………………..15
Conclusion………………………..……………………………………………………………..18
Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………………….19
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I. Introduction
When people think of waste minimization they tend to look towards the
bottom of the supply chain: waste management facilities. Waste management and
recycling facilities are important for collecting and handling waste that has already
been created, but in order to truly make change towards reducing waste production
it is essential to look upstream and towards the source. In 2009, containers and
packaging accounted for approximately 30% of all municipal solid waste in the
United States, approximately 72 million tons (The Wicked World of Packaging,
Perullo).
Figure 1: The Wicked World of Packaging, Perullo
Of that packaging and container waste one of the main culprits are food businesses,
specifically fast food restaurants. In a society “on-the-go”, convenience has taken
precedence over sustainable business practices and caused this great increase of
food packaging waste production. With so many stakeholders contributing to the
issue along the food supply chain, who is responsible for these problems and how
can they be solved?
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II. Statistics
As stated before, containers and packaging accounted for approximately 30%
of all municipal solid waste, or 72 million tons, in the United States. Of that 72
millions tons of waste, food packaging accounted for almost two-thirds of the total
volume (Food Packaging and Its Environmental Impact, IFT). Each day
approximately 570 million pounds of food packaging is discarded in the United
States alone. A very visible demonstration of the mass amount of waste produced
through food packaging can be seen in local schools across the country. The typical
American child creates 67 pounds of packaging waste due to school lunches per
year, culminating into approximately 18,000 pounds of food packaging waste per
average elementary school (The Wicked World of Packaging, Perullo). This problem
is not getting any better either. From 2005 to 2010 the total amount of packaging
waste has grown 1.8% per year (Facts About Packaging, Nunnery). Unnerving
statistics like these display that there is a big problem in regard to waste from food
packaging, and that there is a need for change.
III. The Role of Food Packaging and Containers
Food packaging and containers may be a waste issue, but they serve a few
essential purposes as well. On the basic level, packaging is essential to protecting
and preserving food items. Food is often transported across far distances and
multiple destinations before reaching the final consumer, and in order for this to
happen it must be well protected from damage and spoilage.
Figure 2: What is the Food Supply Chain?, Harvard School of Public Health
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Food packaging protects the food from chemical, biological, and physical external
factors that could compromise the contents. Chemical factors such as gas, moisture,
and light are controlled by packaging to prevent and reactions that could
compromise the contents. Biological factors such as microorganisms and animals
must also be kept out by packaging as they could cause the food to spoil or become
unsanitary. Finally, physical factors such as the food product getting crushed in
distribution are also protected by the packaging which provides stability (Food
Packaging- Roles, Materials, and Environmental Issues, Marsh and Bugusu). In the
end it is crucial that food delivered maintains its quality and is safe for consumers to
eat once it reaches them, which is why food packaging must exist in some form.
Food packaging is also very important for advertising and nutritional
purposes. In terms of advertising, packaging is often where companies are able to
establish their brand identity and “sell” a product to a customer. Creating a
product’s package is a heavily thought out process that includes taking into account
the factors of color, shape, and images all with the goal of being appealing to
customers in a selling environment (The Wicked World of Packaging, Perullo).
Packaging is also where all of the nutritional facts for the food product are put.
Besides being important to customers who are interested in the nutritional
information of the food that they may consume, the United States government has
also made nutritional facts labels mandatory on any processed foods at grocery
stores and many restaurants (Food Labeling Guide, FDA). Food packaging and
containers can not be eliminated entirely, and so the focus of reducing food-serving
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waste must be aimed at designing more environmentally-friendly packaging and
changing the attitudes of users.
IV. The Role of Customers in the Issue
While customers may not have direct influence over how much packaging is
used by food companies, they can affect how much packaging ends up as waste
through two different ways. The first is in their role as an “intermediary” between
the food companies and the waste facilities themselves. After a customer has
purchased a food product, the packaging and its ultimate destination ends up as his
or her responsibility. Many of these packaging materials, such as paper and glass,
are recyclable. Also much of this packaging and containers could be reused multiple
times around the house instead of being discarded, such as plastic water and soda
bottles. When customers are given the responsibility of trying to reduce the amount
of packaging they discard, they often do not do well. From 2005-2010
approximately 30 million tons of packaging was recycled per year. However, in
2006 alone, 27.5 million tons of plastic products, 2.6 million tons of aluminum
products, and more than 10.3 million tons of glass products were not recycled and
instead ended up in landfills (Facts About Packaging, in.gredients).
Approximately 90% of plastics single-use disposable items (SUDs), including
plastic bags and soda bottles, end up either in the garbage despite being recyclable
or are littered (Source Reduction & Reuse, Upstream). Disposing of packaging waste
straight into the environment by littering is even worse than incorrect disposal of
recyclable waste. Instead of decomposing in an environment designated for waste,
litter decomposes (often slowly) in nature where it can affect wildlife and even
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humans. According to a study in the United Kingdom, fast food packaging and
containers make up a quarter of all litter that is collected (McDonald’s waste makes
up largest proportion of fast food litter on streets, Gray). Businesses can source
reduce as much packaging as possible, but it is still critical for the customers to
properly dispose of the packaging after they are done using it in order to make a
positive change.
Part of the reason that food has become so highly packaged is because of
customers’ personal purchasing preferences. Businesses work to match their
customers’ desires, and many of the heavily-packaged food products are aimed at
customers’ desires for food that is more convenient and portable. As society has
become more “on the go” in regard to eating, food businesses have filled these needs
with products such as individual packaged snacks and “to go” meal containers. As
long as customers continue to pay for these heavily packaged products, businesses
will continue justifying the production of them. However, if customers were willing
to sacrifice this insignificant amount of convenience in their food products by
buying normally packaged goods and/or eating at a restaurant, they could reduce
the amount of packaging that food businesses use. Purchasing power is a crucial tool
that customers often fail to utilize, and if they truly wished to make a difference in
the amount of packaging waste that is produced they could display it with their
purchasing habits. In order to truly make improvements on the amount of packaging
waste that is produced, customers must make improvements upon their own life
practices regarding waste.
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V. Benefits of Source Reduction
Food businesses, customers, and even all world citizens benefit from source
reduction and a change in the amount of food packaging usage that eventually ends
up as waste. The two most obvious types of benefits are financially and
environmentally.
Financial
Food companies have benefited in the past from reducing the amount of food
packaging that they use. One strong example of this was McDonald’s who teamed up
with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) with the objective of reducing how
much disposable food packaging the company was using. With simple changes such
as switching from polystyrene foam food containers to sandwich packaging,
switching carry-out bags, coffee filters, and Big Mac wrappers to unbleached paper,
and incorporating recycled content into paper napkins, McDonald’s was able to both
eliminate more than 300 million pounds of packaging and save approximately $6
million a year due to these changes (McDonald’s: The First Corporate Sponsorship,
EDF).
The financial benefits of reducing food packaging use are not just limited to
businesses. When customers purchase food products they rarely consider that
packaging has been calculated into the cost that they are paying, and so often
heavily packaged food items aimed at “convenience” can lead to inflated product
prices for customers. Packaging usually is responsible for 10-20% of a product’s
cost, meaning that the average U.S. family spends approximately $500 of its income
a year simply for packaging (The Wicked World of Packaging, Perullo). When
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manufacturers use less packaging they use less raw materials, and so cost is reduced
and these savings can be passed on to customers (Reducing and Reusing Basics,
EPA). A prime example of excess packaging leading to heightened costs for
customers are 100-calorie snack packs. These packs are advertised to customers as
being more convenient and portable and often cost less then a standard snack
container. However, these 100-calorie packs cost much more per ounce and are a
way that companies can “charge consumers more for less” through extra packaging
(The Wicked World of Packaging, Perullo). Reducing packaging consumption at the
source does not have to be a costly endeavor. In fact, it can be a financially beneficial
one for both customers and food businesses.
Environmental
When thinking of the benefits of food packaging reduction the most obvious
which come to mind are the environmental benefits. The primary environmental
benefit that comes with source reduction of food containers is a reduction of the
amount of waste material that ends up in landfills. Single-use disposable items, such
as Styrofoam containers and plastic bags, are the worst types of packaging waste
because they are extremely difficult to break down in a landfill and are often only
used by a consumer once before being thrown away. As a result, reducing the
amount of packaging material used reduces the amount that could possibly end up
in landfills, helping the environment by preventing long lasting landfill waste
(Source Reduction & Reuse, Upstream). Source reduction of food packaging also
indirectly benefits the environment by reducing the amount of pollution caused by
the processes that harvest the raw materials needed for the packaging, and those
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connected to the manufacturing and transportation of these packaging products
(Reducing and Reusing Basics, EPA).
In addition to the ethical benefits of conducting business practices that
protect the environment, reducing the amount of food packaging materials and/or
making them more environmentally friendly is a point that businesses can use to
appeal to customers. One example of a brand that implemented environmentally
friendly packaging into its advertising was SunChips from Frito Lay. SunChips’ bags
were innovative in that they were 100% compostable and constructed with 90%
plant-based materials. The plant-based material used in the construction of the bag
was called polylactic acid, which created a different sound than traditional chips
bags that Frito Lay advertised as “the sound of green”. The focus of the innovative
bag was reducing the environmental impact of the company according to Frito Lay
Canada President Mark Guay (New SunChips Bag: 90% Plant-based, 100%
Compostable, Siranosian). Reducing the environmental effect that a company’s
packaging has can not only help the world, but also business success.
VI. Universal Steps towards a Solution
There is no one universal fix that would solve the packaging waste problem
of every fast food restaurant. However, there are a few core steps that all of these
organizations could integrate that would help reduce their effect:
1. Integrating corporate responsibility into company values
This principle is based upon Ed Freeman’s emphasis in stakeholder
management of the importance of considering the interests of all stakeholders in a
company’s decision and policy making (Business Ethics at the Millennium, Freeman).
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The United States currently does not have laws designed to encourage package
reduction, and so food businesses must take it upon themselves to initiate the
change (Facts About Packaging, in.gredients). For the issue of food packaging waste
creation, the primary responsibilities that companies need to integrate is product
stewardship. Product stewardship is the “act of minimizing the health,
environmental, and social impacts of a product and its packaging through its life
cycle,” (Product Stewardship & Extended Producer Responsibility, Upstream).
Although it is not a legal requirement, companies that have an interest in operating
sustainably must consider how their business actions affect all stakeholders in order
to follow product stewardship.
2. Removing any unnecessary food packaging
The first and most obvious move is to remove any food packaging that is
unnecessary. If a type of food packaging does not serve an implicit purpose, then
there is not a need for it to be used. Every container uses some amount of raw
materials and energy to produce, and so if it is not necessary it should be eliminated.
In addition to reducing types of food packaging that is not needed, businesses can
also reduce the amount of raw materials that their current packaging is using.
Plastic products specifically can be “light-weighted”, meaning that the amount of
plastic used in packaging and containers can often be lowered while still leaving the
packaging able to perform its task. Compared to other packaging and container
materials, two pounds of light-weight plastic can deliver approximately 10 gallons
of beverage compared to the three pounds of aluminum needed to complete the
same task (Plastics and Sustainability, Plastic Packaging). By effectively choosing the
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materials that go into food packaging, businesses can eliminate the quantity of
packaging that they need to transport and protect their food products.
3. Reducing the environmental impact of essential packaging without
compromising its role
Some form of packaging or container is essential in order to safely deliver
food products to customers, and so this essential packaging should have its
environmental impact reduced as much as possible without compromising its
protection. Fast food restaurants should design their packaging and containers with
the concept of product stewardship in mind, meaning that businesses should work
to make all of their packaging recyclable at the least in order to minimize its impact.
Even more ideal would be if companies were able to design their products to be
biodegradable like the SunChips’ packaging. Biodegradable packaging is beneficial
because it takes away the responsibility of correctly disposing of waste from
customers by making it so that the container can naturally decompose in a short
period of time in a landfill.
4. Creating cost savings for both the businesses and customers
As mentioned before, a reduction in the use of raw materials used by food
businesses as a result of the elimination of unnecessary packaging and containers
can result in cost savings for a business. These savings are extremely enticing for
these companies, but they can also be used to entice customers. By sharing some of
this cost savings with the customers via reduced product prices, businesses can
make customers more open and accepting towards environmentally friendly
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product change by displaying a financial benefit that comes with source reduction
and green business practice.
5. Sharing environmental information and values with external parties
Businesses have direct control over how much packaging and containers
they use in their practices, but in order to truly create societal change they need to
spread their environmental values up and down the supply chain with their
customers and suppliers. As mentioned before, customers currently have the
important role as “intermediary” between food businesses and waste facilities. For
businesses to truly practice product stewardship, they need to emphasize the
importance of proper waste disposal to their customers to ensure that the waste
reduction impact is attained on as large a scale as possible. Suppliers are another
external group that food businesses can influence to help expand packaging and
container usage on a greater scale. Food businesses do not have direct control over
the packaging methods of their suppliers, but larger ones can use their status as a
way to influence their suppliers to change their habits to better follow the
company’s environmental values. As part of McDonald’s waste reduction
partnership with the EDF, the company asked their suppliers to use at least 35%
postconsumer recycle content into all shipping boxes that were being sent
(McDonald’s: The First Corporate Partnership, EDF). Wal-Mart is another example
that has taken this a step further by establishing environmental standards that they
make all suppliers meet (Responsible Sourcing Standards for Wal-Mart Suppliers,
Wal-Mart). By extending corporate values to the external groups that they interact
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with most, food businesses can expand their scale and create even greater
environmental change.
VIII. Proposed Solutions for Fast Food Restaurants
Using Durable, Reusable Cutlery and Serving Plates for Sit-In Diners
For customers who are eating their meals within the restaurant there is no
need to serve them their food in “to go” containers. An average fast food restaurant
meal of a burger, fries, and a drink results in the use of a paper bag, cardboard fries
box, cardboard burger box, and paper cup. Many of these “to go” containers are
designed as single-use disposable items for customers who will be leaving the
restaurant and taking the packaging with them, but for those who are staying within
the restaurant reusable utensils, plates, and cups should be a must. In China
reusable plates have already become the standard for fast food restaurants in order
to reduce the amount of packaging waste produced, and many of these fast food
restaurants are the same ones that are currently operating without this practice in
the United States (Egregious Packaging Hall of Fame: Fast Food Restaurants That
Defy Waste with Savvy, Sustainable Packaging, Vartan). While there is an initial cost
for fast food chains that comes with purchasing the reusable items and adding the
jobs and machinery to clean them, this cost can be outweighed by the amount saved
in packaging cost over time.
Eliminating all non-recyclable and non-biodegradable SUDs
For diners who are in a hurry and can not eat their meal within the
restaurant, single-use disposable items may be the only way to serve them their
food. While this is not ideal, the world is not perfect and fast food restaurants must
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meet the needs of these customers on the go. When meeting these needs though,
restaurants must still keep the environment in mind. To do this, fast food
restaurants must eliminate all single-use disposable items that can not be recycled
or are not biodegradable. The specific target in this solution is Styrofoam, which can
not be recycled and takes at least a million years in order to break down in a landfill
(Fun Stuff and Fast Facts, Cleveland State University). Styrofoam cups and
containers are frequently used at fast food restaurants despite being one of the most
negative materials that a business could use in terms of reducing the amount of
landfill waste produced. Although paper cups and plastic bottles are still not the
best solution, they should be substituted for Styrofoam because they are at least
recyclable and will have less of a negative effect on the environment.
Reduction in food price for customers who eat in
Financial benefits are a large incentive for everyone as discussed with the
benefit of cost saving that comes from packaging and container reduction. One idea
that would incentivize customers to use less food packaging would be to give
customers who choose to eat their meal in-restaurant a slight discount. While at first
this may seem like a loss for fast food restaurants, it can instead be seen as the offset
reduction that comes with the cost savings from reduced packaging purchasing and
manufacturing. In collaboration with the implementation of reusable cutlery and
plates, monetarily incentivized customers would more likely eat their meals in fast
food restaurants and lessen container usage, waste creation, and any environmental
impacts.
Giving the option of purchasable, reusable hard plastic cups
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This concept is inspired by the practice implemented frequently at coffee
shops where customers can purchase reusable, branded coffee mugs and get a
discount on all future purchases when they use their refillable mug. A small discount
with each drink purchase and owning a durable cup of a brand they like alone would
be attractive to a customer, and tying the product into the company’s business
objectives of reducing waste and helping the environment could only make it even
more appealing.
Placing recycling cans within the restaurant
Although many fast food restaurants emphasize the importance of recycling
and environmentalism, they frequently lack recycling containers. Often at a fast food
restaurant there are simply containers labeled “Trash” where all customer waste is
put to most likely end up at the same destination: a landfill. The average customer is
not be willing to take their packaging waste with them from the restaurant in order
to properly recycle it, and so a restaurant’s efforts to make their packaging
recyclable will be for naught if they do not provide customers with a recycling
receptacle in the restaurant. Simply converting a few of the trash containers to
clearly marked recycling containers, while providing information on what can and
can not be recycled, would greatly encourage customers to recycle any possible
packaging they have.
Emphasizing recycling and source reduction effort on bags/advertising
Fast food restaurants are unable to follow their customers to ensure that
they properly dispose of their food packaging, but they can spread the message and
remind them by including information on the containers themselves. This additional
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information on the containers that customers use will help educate them on how to
dispose of waste, emphasize the corporate focus on helping the environment, and
overall hopefully help the customer realize the importance of reduction and
recycling by reminding them of their responsibility in the waste process.
IX. Conclusion
Packaging and containers are the largest sources of municipal solid waste in
the United States and there is an obvious need for change. It is essential that fast
food restaurants perform source reduction to reduce the amount of packaging that
they use in their daily business activities, but physical change is not enough. In order
to truly help the environment and create large-scale benefit fast food restaurants
need to help push for philosophical change as well with both their customers and
their suppliers. No remedy is better for solving this waste problem than a shift in
attitudes to combat the current “throw-away society” mentality that much of the
United States has towards their disposable items. This is why fast food restaurants
must make changes, both physically through source reduction and philosophical
with their corporate policies, in order to combat the growing food packaging waste
problem in the United States.
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