McDonald's Finland has replaced the plastic lids of its beverages with lids made of fibre. The restaurant chain continues to gradually reduce the amount of plastic.

From 2025, all McDonald's restaurants in Finland will use new fibre-based cold and hot drink lids. The shaped fiber lids are part of McDonald's global commitment to move away from fossil-fuel-based plastics. The changes are expected to be implemented by the end of 2025.

"McDonald's aims for all packaging to come from renewable, recycled and certified materials before the end of 2025," says Olli Johansson, chief executive officer of McDonald's Finland.

Replacing the covers also reduces CO2 emissions, as the carbon footprint of fiber lids is smaller compared to old plastic covers. By replacing plastic lids with fiber-based beverage lids, McDonald's will reduce 59,000 kg of plastic by the end of 2025.

The new covers will be supplied by the Finnish company Huhtamäki Oy. Huhtamaki's fibre lids feature a patented click-fit function that closes the lid tightly to ensure that the lid is user-friendly. Huhtamaki's fiber covers, like the company's other fiber products, are home compostable and recyclable.

The raw material for the fibre packaging used by McDonald's Finland already comes from either recycled fibre or certified forests. In Finland, only recyclable materials are used in McDonald's sales packaging.

McDonald's has been systematically reducing plastic for years

McDonald's Finland has already reduced the amount of plastic waste in many ways in the past.

In 2018, McDonald's introduced cardboard porridge cups and McFlurry cups without plastic lids. In 2020, McDonald's switched from plastic milkshake cups to cardboards, and in the same year, salad portions began to be served in cardboard packaging instead of plastic ones. In addition, McDonald's Finland has abandoned plastic balloon sticks. Plastic straws were replaced with paper ones from March 2021.