If there’s one thing young kids look forward to when at Burger King or McDonald’s, it’s opening their meals with plastic toys inside. But while most children get excited about these toys from these food chains, two young girls are surprisingly against the idea.
Sisters Caitlin and Ella McEwan, 7 and 9 years old, started an online petition with one goal – to make the fast food giants stop giving away plastic toys with their kids’ meals. With the help of their mother, these girls were able to launch the online petition which garnered a total of 350,000 signatures.
The ultimate goal is to reach 500,000 signatures and it looks like it’s a very realistic goal for them to achieve, considering all the support they are receiving from children and adults alike.
According to the Good News Network, the petition states that the youngsters are very concerned about the way plastics harm the environment and the problem is getting out of hand. And to help control the problem of plastics, they believe it’s time for Burger King and McDonald’s to stop with their plastic toys giveaways.
“We’ve been learning all about the environment at school and the problem of plastic. It made us very sad to see how plastic harms wildlife and pollutes the ocean, and we want to change this,” reads the petition. “That’s why we want Burger King and McDonald’s to think of the environment and stop giving plastic toys with their kids meals.”
“We like to go eat at Burger King and McDonald’s, but children only play with the plastic toys they give us for a few minutes before they get thrown away and harm animals and pollute the sea. We want anything they give us to be sustainable so we can protect the planet for us and future generations,” they added.
Burger King responded to the petition and said in a statement that they are working on developing a “more sustainable packaging and alternative toy solutions” by next year.
CNN Business also reported that Mcdonald’s in the UK will reduce the number of plastic toys given away by 60%. They said their Happy Meal promotions will include soft toys, board games and even books in the next six months.
Besides the online petition, Ella and Caitlin also put up a poster outside their home about saving the planet. After learning how pollution harms the environment at school, they thought they needed to do something to help.
There’s no denying that the issue with plastics is one of the biggest problems we face. And if we don’t do something about it, it will continue to take a toll on the environment and the planet we live on. With the help of Ella and Caitlin, big companies are finally making a change. However, the efforts shouldn’t just stop there. If these kids can do something to make a difference, why can’t we?
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