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Two Girls Have Petitioned McDonald’s And Burger King To Replace Plastic Toys

You’re never too young to take on two of the biggest corporations in the world over their environmental policies — and you don’t need a PhD or even a high school degree to do it.

Ella and Caitlin McEwan, two sisters from Southampton, UK, were troubled by how much plastic was being used to make the toys given out with McDonald’s Happy Meals and Burger King JR Meals, so they started a petition to fix the problem.

About 400,000 signatures later, they’ve actually managed to convince the two companies to work on reducing the number of plastic toys served with the meals.

In their petition, the girls wrote, “We like to go to eat at Burger King and McDonald’s, but children only play with the plastic toys they give us for a few minutes before they get thrown away and harm animals and pollute the sea.”

The BBC reported that Burger King has said that they will try removing the toys for a trial, and work towards a more sustainable approach by 2020, while McDonald’s said they would be moving to alternatives like books, board games and soft toys.

Before the petition, the sisters appeared on a BBC documentary called War on Plastic with Hugh and Anita. (No, not Hugh Grant — a different British Hugh.) They took a trailer full of plastic toys to the McDonald’s headquarters, but were lead off the premises by a security guard. Oh, and by the way, Ella and Caitlin are nine and seven years old, respectively.

After the incident on the show, the people of Britain were firmly in the girls’ corner.

See below for an inside look on the reaction to the fast food giants questionable responses to the youngsters plea for sustainable packaging, after learning about the harm that plastic does to wildlife and the environment.

Safe to say they were not happy.

It’s been dubbed a PR disaster for McDonald’s.

But, Burger King came out looking slightly better.

McDonald’s apologized…

Repeatedly — but some weren’t buying it.

They’ve lost at least one Twitter user to their arch rival!

It’s bad timing for the latest range of McDonald’s toys.

Many people — especially parents — have been applauding the girls’ efforts to save the world.

They’re even making adults think about things differently.

Other kids are inspired too.

They’re even finding other ways for McDonald’s to cut back on plastic (such a helpful generation!).

Although it turns out others have been concerned for a while, according to this former McDonald’s worker:

Meanwhile, since this is Twitter, some members of the older generation are playing the “kids today” card…

It’s worth noting that the girls are campaigning to replace the toys with books, but you just feel those feelings.

Other adults — presumably those who don’t hang out with environmentally conscious kids — are skeptical.

Yes, we have actual adults whining about having their toys taken away…

This year has been a pivotal one for plastic in the UK: plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds will be banned from April 2020. Assuming the companies live up to their promises, it looks like plastic toys could be next.

Samantha Wachs

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