Many E.U. nations including Germany, Poland, Portugal and Sweden have imposed restrictions on packaging and utensils used by QSRs. Regulations vary in their intensity but generally disfavor the use of plastics and non-biodegradable materials.

France has implemented the most extreme restrictions requiring reuseable containers for food and beverages that require washing to be recycled.  This is especially a problem for companies including McDonald’s Corp. franchisees, given that eighty percent of customers opt for eat-in dining.  Currently, the restaurant is obliged to provide reuseable cups and bowls compared to the previous use of disposable packaging.  McDonald’s has installed dishwashers and dryers for tableware imposing additional labor and operating costs.  It is experience in France that ninety percent of customers clean off their plates and place their containers in the appropriate bins. Tableware can be reused, thirty times on average, before replacement.

The concern expressed by McDonald’s is that the trend towards recyclables will extend beyond the E.U.  Adoption in the U.S., presumably bi-coastal initially, would require the questionable cooperation of customers and the installation of additional equipment in facilities with limited space.  The cost to employ workers would also add to expense that would ultimately be borne by franchisees, shareholders and customers.

Mandating recyclables would require expenditure for replacement and would consume energy and water for washing and impose an additional burden on local sewage treatment plants with questionable environmental benefits.

Attempts at replacing non-compostable packaging have proven difficult since paper-based containers require coating that complicates recycling and biodegradability.

Lawmakers under pressure from environmentalists had best consider the ultimate impact of any intended legislation since solving a problem at one point in a chain of use may create difficulties at a subsequent stage in the cycle.