McDonald’s in Northern Ireland is celebrating after nine of its restaurants received a Platinum award at the Green and Growing Awards announced today by Environment Minister Mark H Durkan in Derry~Londonderry.

The McDonald’s restaurants were independently audited by Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful (KNIB) across 10 key environmental categories including waste management, general cleanliness, exterior maintenance and litter.

Of the 27 McDonald’s restaurants in Northern Ireland, nine received a Platinum award, 13 merited Gold awards and 5 achieved Silver, reflecting McDonald’s vision for a cleaner, greener Northern Ireland. The Environment Minister, Mark H Durkan confirmed his support for the awards announcing this year’s results at McDonald’s restaurant in Crescent Link Retail Park.

Environment Minister Mark H Durkan commented “I very much welcome businesses working to protect and promote the local environment and I commend all of the award winners.  They have shown real relish here for the environment on a number of levels – reducing waste, recycling and tackling litter outside their premises.”

Helen McFarlane, Environment Consultant McDonald’s commented, “We are delighted to have received such positive feedback from KNIB, and the presentation of nine platinum awards is testament to the hard work of our franchisees and their teams and illustrates McDonald’s ongoing commitment to helping improve the environment and communities which we are a part of.”

“Across the business our ethos is to work in partnership with our local stakeholders to support the drive for environmental change on issues such as litter and the need to reduce, reuse and recycle within our restaurants. We are looking forward to continuing to work closely with Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful to strengthen our environmental commitments in the year ahead.”

Dr Ian Humphreys, Chief Executive, Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, said “Achieving environmental excellence is something that takes time and effort from all staff, so I am delighted to see these strong results, which are testament to McDonald’s real commitment to continuous improvement in Northern Ireland.”

The awards have encouraged McDonald’s staff and franchisees to develop strategies which aim to reduce, reuse and recycle while promoting a culture of sustainability and responsibility towards the environment. Efforts on the part of franchisees have been reflected in this year’s awards which demonstrate McDonald’s commitment to building a cleaner, greener environment across Northern Ireland. 

ENDS

For further information please contact Simon Tiernan or Katrina Frazer at Aiken PR on 028 9066 3000 or email Simon@aikepr.com or Katrina@aikenpr.com