Parents occasionally turn to McDonald’s for a quick dinner for their children. That’s why the fast-food business sells Happy Meals, which are little packaged meals that include a burger or chicken nuggets, fries, apple slices, and a drink. However, children are generally most pleased to receive a Happy Meal since it includes a free toy – but now parents are outraged with McDonald’s for replacing all plastic toys with cardboard ones in order to be more environmentally friendly.
Across the fleet of McDonald’s locations, parents are making it very clear on social media that they are furious with McDonald’s for getting rid of their plastic Happy Meals toys. Parents claim that the new cardboard toy versions are simply “awful” and are a waste of time and money. One dad went so far as to say that his children “used to love the old toys, now they just throw them in the bin.”
McDonald’s opted to switch to cardboard toys after discontinuing their plastic toys to help reduce global plastic waste. However, parents are now pressing the fast-food giant to utilize recycled plastic toys – and to make the items recyclable itself – so that children can receive a gift worth the growing price of the Happy Meal rather than a piece of rubbish that is discarded as soon as it is removed from the packaging.
Dad Philip wrote: “The cardboard toys are awful. I also dispute that it was plastic waste; lots of families kept those toys – you can go into any charity shop and find them years later. Be honest, you saved money and still sold Happy Meals at an increased price point, nothing to do with the environment.”
One mom named Tanya also spoke up about the new McDonald’s toys, saying: “Unfortunately, as good for the environment as they are, it means the new toys are disappointing for the children. They aren’t normally things smaller kids enjoy playing with. And every toy my child has received was quickly destroyed. Would it not be better to use recycled plastic.”
Another parent named Ash said, “The current toys are terrible. They don’t make my child ‘happy,’ which is supposed to be the point of a Happy Meal.”
Richard said, “But the toys you now have are so bad you may as well not bother. My kids used to love the old toys; now they just throw them in the bin.”
Although customers and parents are not happy with the new Happy Meal toys, McDonald’s has made great strides to be a more environmentally friendly fast-food chain, claiming that their move to get rid of plastic toys helped reduce their plastic waste production by more than 890 tons.
McDonald’s was able to recycle old plastic toys to make playgrounds for children for their charity, Ronald McDonald House Charities, which helps families in need.
