McDonald’s drive-thru: Car registration plates could go on takeaway bags to stop littering

Car registration plates could go on McDonald’s bags to discourage people from littering.
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Stricter drive-thru rules in McDonald’s could be introduced in a bid to stop littering - by printing number plates of cars on the bags. According to the BBC, a council chief in Wales has revealed the idea is being considered, although he admitted there would be shortcomings in terms of data privacy.

Chris Howell, head of waste, parks, and cleansing at Swansea Council said: "The Welsh Government has explored with McDonald’s, or their franchises, whether or not they could print number plates of cars collecting takeaways from their drive throughs with a view that that would discourage people from discarding their materials."

Speaking to a climate change corporate delivery committee meeting on Friday (November 25), Mr Howell said: "If McDonald’s does it, then people will just go to Burger King instead of McDonald’s, because nobody wants to have their private details printed on that packaging. I think it’s a really good idea, but at the minute it’s fraught with some difficulties."

People have had mixed reactions to the idea, but many support the move, which they believe may be able to put an end to the litter problem. One tweeted: “Brilliant idea, we have a McDonald’s just down the road and the dumped litter from their customers is shocking.”

Another thought while they don’t hate the idea, it would be tough to implement, saying: “They can’t even get my order right, good luck in adding that to the mix.”

The concept is not a new one and has previously been proposed. Plaid Cymru started a petition two years ago requesting fast-food firms print number plates on drive-thru packaging to stop rampant littering. The petition was created in response to an increase in litter as people flocked to fast food outlets during the first coronavirus lockdown.