Schoolgirls petitioning McDonald's and Burger King over plastic toys amass more than 400,000 signatures

Sisters closing in on their target of half a million signatures

Monday 22 July 2019 16:39

Schoolgirls petition McDonald's and Burger King to remove plastic toys from meals targeted at children

Two schoolgirls who have been petitioning for McDonald's and Burger King to forego plastic toys in children's meals have garnered more than 400,000 signatures.

Ella and Caitlin McEwan first launched their petition on Change.org nine months ago.

In the petition's blurb, they explain that they have been learning about the detrimental impact of plastic waste, which is why they want McDonald's and Burger King to "think of the environment and stop giving plastic toys with their kids meals".

In June, the pair appeared on BBC One programme War on Plastic with Hugh and Anita, in which they revealed that they had amassed more than 160,000 signatures, with a target of reaching 200,000.

However, one month on, the schoolgirls' target has been increased to 500,000, an objective which they are just under 100,000 signatures shy of achieving.

In an update published on the petition's webpage a week ago, Ella and Caitlin explained that they had received "lots of media attention" across the world, including in the US and in Germany.

"Hopefully this will create lots more interest and pressure on McDonald's and Burger King to make lasting changes," the sisters wrote.

Four months ago, the schoolgirls revealed they had received an official response from Burger King.

"We appreciate in our modern climate, plastic consumption is a big issue and is something we as a brand need to review," a Burger King spokesperson said in response.

"Whilst we can't advise of any changes at the moment, we have forwarded your comments through to our management team so we can review the matter."

Plastic waste across the world: in pictures

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1/15Plastic waste across the world: in pictures

Plastic waste across the world: in pictures

A father and son on a makeshift boat made from styrofoam paddle through a garbage filled river as they collect plastic bottles that they can sell in junkshops in Manila. The father and son team earn some three US dollars a day retrieving recyclables from the river.

AFP/Getty

Plastic waste across the world: in pictures

A composite image of items found on the shore of the Thames Estuary in Rainham, Kent. Tons of plastic and other waste lines areas along the Thames Estuary shoreline, an important feeding ground for wading birds and other marine wildlife.

Getty Images

Plastic waste across the world: in pictures

Children collect plastic water bottles among the garbage washed ashore at the Manila Bay. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, at current rates of pollution, there will likely be more plastic in the sea than fish by 2050.

AFP/Getty

Plastic waste across the world: in pictures

Plastics and other detritus line the shore of the Thames Estuary. In December 2017 Britain joined the other 193 UN countries and signed up to a resolution to help eliminate marine litter and microplastics in the sea. It is estimated that about eight million metric tons of plastic find their way into the world's oceans every year. Once in the Ocean plastic can take hundreds of years to degrade, all the while breaking down into smaller and smaller 'microplastics,' which can be consumed by marine animals, and find their way into the human food chain.

Getty

Plastic waste across the world: in pictures

A dump site in Manila in 2013. The Philippines financial capital banned disposable plastic shopping bags and styrofoam food containers, as part of escalating efforts across the nation's capital to curb rubbish that exacerbates deadly flooding.

AFP/Getty Images

Plastic waste across the world: in pictures

Children swims in the sea full of garbage in North Jakarta, Indonesia.

Getty

Plastic waste across the world: in pictures

An Indian woman holds a jar filled with Yamuna river water polluted with froth and toxic foam to be used for rituals at the river bank in New Delhi, India. The Yamuna River, like all other holy rivers in India, has been massively polluted for decades now. The river that originates in a glacier in the pristine and unpolluted Himalayas, and flows through Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh before merging with the Ganges River in Allahabad, once used to be the lifeline of the Indian capital. Currently, it is no more than a large, open sewer that is choking with industrial and domestic discharge that includes plastic, flowers and debris and has virtually no aquatic life.

EPA

Plastic waste across the world: in pictures

Plastic waste is washed up on South Troon beach in Scotland. Recent reports by scientists have confirmed, plastics dumped in the world oceans are reaching a dangerous level with micro plastic particles now being found inside filter feeding animals and amongst sand grains on our beaches.

Getty

Plastic waste across the world: in pictures

Children collect plastic to be sold and recycled, in a polluted river in suburban Manila. The city's trash disposal agency traps solid waste floating down waterways that was thrown into the water by residents of slums along riverbanks upstream.

AFP/Getty

Plastic waste across the world: in pictures

View of the Carpayo Beach in La Punta, Callao, some 15 km of Lima. In 2013, the NGO VIDA labeled the Carpayo Beach as the most polluted in the country - 40 tons of trash on each 500m2.

AFP/Getty

Plastic waste across the world: in pictures

Trash from Kamilo Beach in Hawaii.

Gabriella Levine/Flickr

Plastic waste across the world: in pictures

A scavenger collects plastic cups for recycling in a river covered with rubbish near Pluit dam in Jakarta.

Reuters

Plastic waste across the world: in pictures

Rubbish fills Omoa beach in Honduras. Floating masses of garbage offshore from some of the Caribbean's pristine beaches are testimony to a vast and growing problem of plastic pollution heedlessly dumped in our oceans, locals, activists and experts say.

AFP/Getty

Plastic waste across the world: in pictures

A man climbs down to a garbage filled river in Manila. Plastic rubbish will outweigh fish in the oceans by 2050 unless the world takes drastic action to recycle the material, a report warned in 2016.

AFP/Getty

Plastic waste across the world: in pictures

Garbage on East Beach, Henderson Island (Pitcairn Islands), in the south Pacific Ocean. The uninhabited island has been found to have the world's highest density of waste plastic, with more than 3,500 additional pieces of litter washing ashore daily at just one of its beaches.

EPA

According to the sisters, their response from McDonald's was an automated email.

Several individuals who signed the petition have commended the schoolgirls on their efforts to raise awareness of plastic pollution.

"These young people are already thinking ahead about the welfare of future generations. Thank you Ella and Caitlin!" one person wrote.

"Proud of you girls for fighting for the planet," another added.

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An eight-year-old boy from Essex recently wrote an open letter to McDonald's urging the fast food restaurant to remove plastic toys from its Happy Meals.

In the letter, Jacob Douglas wrote that he is concerned about the way in which plastic is "affecting the world around us".

In response, a McDonald's spokesperson said the company is "very impressed" in Jacob's passion for the environment.

"McDonald's is looking at alternatives that will keep our Happy Meals fun without causing damage to our environment," the spokesperson added.

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