With plastic pollution becoming one of the most pressing environmental issues of the modern age, lately, there has been increasing consumer pressure on fast-food chains to stop handing out plastic toys that come together with children’s meals.
The latest fast-food restaurant to come to its senses and ditch the wasteful decades-old practice is Burger King UK. Their decision was prompted by a tireless campaign led by two sisters, aged seven and nine, who organized a petition calling for companies to “think of the environment and stop giving plastic toys with their kids’ meals”, and which received more than half a million signatures.
As part of the initiative, Burger King will also provide bins in its restaurants to collect old toys – a move that would allegedly save 320 tons of plastic every year. Yet another example of how the youngest voices in our midst can spur concrete action in the way the world’s largest companies work.