Sometimes the giants are the good guys.
There are a whole lot of thing I don’t like about America’s biggest burger joints, but when food giants McDonald’s and Burger King take positive steps, they can move the whole food chain in a more sustainable direction.
The news from Burger King that it will make the switch to cage-free eggs in the next 5 years levels the playing field for small egg-producers across the country. Everybody moves to slightly larger-scale production methods, nobody loses financial advantage.
Via GreenBiz.com:
Here’s some super-sized news in the world of food sustainability and the humane treatment of livestock. Burger King (NYSE: BKC), the world’s second-largest fast-food chain, is making changes that will dramatically affect the welfare of the millions of chickens and pigs it uses annually.
The Miami-based company is pledging to switch to 100 percent cage-free eggs by 2017 and to eliminate gestation crates for breeding pigs. While other chains already use some cage-free eggs, the news marks the first time a major U.S. fast-food chain is going completely cage-free.
Can McDonald’s Lead in Green?
McDonald’s now has key partnerships with environmental organizations like the World Wildlife Fund and the Environmental Defense Fund and last month it launched a pilot program to phase out polystyrene beverage cups.The international food service icon recently released a report, 2012 Global Best of Green, a collection of its best environmental practices. The report highlights recent progress in eight categories including energy, packaging, anti-littering and greening the workplace.