When did EDF begin working with companies on sustainability projects?
EDF did its first corporate partnership in 1990, with McDonald’s. We worked with them to reduce the amount of packaging they were using and increase recycled content. The idea was to create new markets for recycled material. At the time solid waste was a big issue – remember the garbage barge that was floating around the east coast? The thing that people remember about our partnership with McDonald’s is that they eliminated those Styrofoam “clamshell” sandwich containers. But we were also able to demonstrate other measurable and significant environmental benefits. We went back 10 years later and figured they saved about 300 million pounds of packaging. There were also measurable business benefits for McDonald’s, because they were buying less packaging and spending less to haul away waste, not to mention reputational benefits. They also set a new packaging standard for the industry that Burger King and others followed, which is what we’re trying to achieve in all of our partnerships. Th
