Golden Arches go green in Penang

 

Going green: An employee of McDonald’s handing out food in paper bags to a customer in support of the ‘No Plastic-Day’ campaign.

GEORGE TOWN: Support for the state’s “No Plastic-Day” campaign is growing with the latest to sign up for the drive being the global fast food giant, McDonald’s.

McDonald’s 18 outlets in Penang will replace plastic bags with paper bags every Monday to Wednesday. It has also started to use paper instead of foam for its beverage cup from last month.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng who launched McDonald’s “Go-Green” campaign at its outlet in Jalan Mesjid Negri, praised the company, saying that the outlets in Penang are the first in Malaysia to participate in the green initiative.

“Support is growing as most of the hypermarkets and supermarkets are already taking part in our campaign. Many other enterprises including the state sundry shop owners association have also indicated they will support it.

“As for mini markets and single ownership outlets, they will have to comply with “No Plastic-Day” every Monday or else their permits may not be renewed or in some cases, revoked,” he said.

Later, Lim, who was accompanied by state Health, Environment and Caring Society committee chairman Phee Boon Poh, said the state had extended the campaign’s grace period, which was supposed to end in June, by another two months.

Phee said that the state’s priority was to create a high awareness level of the importance of not using plastic bags.

“Enforcement and penalties are the last resort. We want to raise awareness among the people,” he said.

McDonald’s Malaysia senior director Daniel Chan said a soft launch of the campaign began a month back and the response has been encouraging.

McDonald’s has 194 outlets nationwide, and employs about 8,000 workers. It plans to increase its outlets to 300 within the next five years. In Penang, McDonald’s plans to add another 15 outlets in the next five years.