I pulled through a Wendy's drive-thru a few weeks ago to pick up 5 baked potatoes for dinner. Big mistake. I had no idea that each potato came in its own little styrofoam "boat" with a non-recyclable plastic lid. I also received 5 plastic forks, a pile of napkins and 10 individually wrapped butters that I didn't need. I guess I should have yelled that into the drive-thru speaker.

I was reminded of my Wendy's experience this morning while listening to the radio. According to NPR:

McDonald's serves 15 million customers per day

After hearing that lovely statistic, I searched for additional facts on McDonald's and discovered that according to their Web site, McDonald's actually serves 47 million customers per day worldwide! (15 million must be only in the US.) To be fair, McDonald's has taken many steps to reduce their environmental impact (which must be appalling!):

1. McDonald's is the largest user of recycled paper in the industry, which includes such items as trayliners, fry boxes, serviettes, carry out bags and drink holders.
2. The most significant reduction of packaging has occurred behind the counter at McDonald's restaurant locations. A decrease in the cardboard weight of corrugated containers and the introduction of larger shipping containers has helped minimize the amount of packaging materials required by McDonald's.
3. McDonald's also states that they do not purchase beef from rainforests or recently deforested land. This rain forest policy is strictly enforced and closely monitored. Any McDonald's supplier that is found to deviate from the policy or cannot prove compliance will be immediately discontinued.

McDonald's Web site also has a nutritional calculator. Just for goofs, I put in the items I used to eat in college: quarter pounder with cheese, medium fries and a medium soda. The results were startling: 1080 calories and 44 grams of fat (68% of my daily fat requirements!) What I would like to see on McDonald's web site is an environmental calculator. I envision it calculating the environmental impact of your food choices. This would include water and land use, animal abuses, if any, landfill space required, child labor practices, if any, obesity rates, and any other resources required. At the bottom of the page, McDonald's would then multiply your results by the 45 million customers it serves each day. I wonder how many customers they'd lose, if any.