McDonald’s Testing New Strawless Lid In Duluth + Superior Area
The next time you visit a McDonald's in the Twin Ports area you'll notice something different with the lid on your beverage. Gone is the lid we've grown accustomed to, with a hole to insert your straw.
In select markets across the United States, McDonald's is experimenting with a strawless lid where rather than use a plastic straw to take a drink, you instead lift a small flap that you can close again until you're ready for another sip.
The McDonald's restaurants in the Duluth/Superior area are test markets for the strawless lids. I called several locations in the area and they all confirmed that they've made the switch. Jess, the manager of the Cloquet McDonald's, says this is not a temporary change and McDonald's throughout the area will utilize a strawless lid indefinitely. Straws will only be provided at the request of the customer.
Multiple sources are reporting that reason for the switch is that McDonald's is making a concerted effort to reduce waste across restaurants and advance recycling. The company issued the following statement:
"These lids help optimize our packaging and eliminate the use of small plastics, just one example of the many solutions we're reviewing as part of our ongoing global commitment to reduce waste across restaurants and advance recycling."
According to their website, McDonald's is aiming for 100% certified, recycled, or renewable guest packaging materials by the end of 2025 and they plan on drastically reducing plastics within that same time frame.
Currently, approximately 82.7% of their packaging materials and 96.8%1 of their primary fiber packaging comes from recycled or certified sources.
The strawless lids aren't the only switch McDonald's is making as a part of this effort. They plan to drastically reduce plastics and offer sustainable Happy Meal toys and transition to more sustainable materials by the end of 2025.
The company notes that since 2018, they have reduced virgin fossil fuel-based plastic in Happy Meal toys by 24.4% globally and they continue to work on sourcing materials used in Happy Meal toys from renewable, recycled, or certified sources.
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