McDonald's waste to power buildings

Last Modified: 20 Sep 2007
Source: PA News

Buildings such as hospitals and theatres will be powered by rubbish from McDonald's restaurants in a new pilot scheme.

Eleven fast-food restaurants in Sheffield, Rotherham and Barnsley, South Yorkshire, will take part in the initiative, which will turn waste into electricity and heating for 130 buildings in the area.

The scheme will save each restaurant from sending 100 tonnes of refuse to landfill each year and could be rolled out across the country if successful.

The restaurants will become the first in the UK to send no waste to landfill. Instead, any rubbish will be collected, treated at a state-of-the-art energy recovery facility and converted into electricity and heat.

Buildings in Sheffield to benefit from the new recycled energy include Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, Park Hill flats, the Lyceum Theatre, Millennium Galleries, Weston Park Hospital and Sheffield City Hall.

The 11 restaurants will also trial a range of environmentally-friendly technologies and processes, including solar panels, wind power, energy-efficient lighting and a recycling scheme for cardboard.

Steve Easterbrook, president and chief executive officer of McDonald's UK, said: "At the moment, it is difficult for companies like McDonald's to recycle waste. Many recycling contractors refuse to take our waste because we cannot remove food from it completely. As a result, we have to send it to landfill.

"This trial is an exciting opportunity to look at an alternative method of disposal with real benefits for the environmental and local community."

David Pratt, carbon management account manager at the Carbon Trust, which is working with McDonald's to evaluate the projects, added: "We look forward to assessing the CO2 savings of this initiative on McDonald's carbon footprint.

"We welcome the steps that McDonald's are taking to reduce their emissions as part of UK business efforts to fight climate change."

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