A Letter from Mr. Foster's Grade 4 Class, Harry J. Clarke P.S.

April 16, 2009

A group of students in Mr. Foster's Grade 4 Class at Harry J. Clarke P.S. prepared and sent the following letter to McDonald's Restaurants of Canada in the hopes that they could inspire the restaurant chain to deepen their commitment to the environment.

McDonald's Restaurants of Canada Limited
McDonald's Place
Toronto, Ontario, M3C 3L4

Dear McDonalds Canada,

We are writing today to ask you about the recycling program that you have in your restaurants. We have noticed a lot of your customers throwing their recycling in the trash can.

Your restaurants serve their food using a lot of recyclable materials. Some of these materials are: cardboard, plastics, and paper products. These materials are all recyclable in my home. How come they are not recyclable in your restaurants? Your packaging says that you use recycled material. Could you re-recycle your packaging after its used?

Your restaurants have lots of available garbage cans but very few recycle bins. We have noticed recycle bins available for bottles and cans however, very few of your products come in either glass or metal containers. Perhaps you could have recycle containers available for plastics and paper products as well. Without recycling, the growing garbage problem can thin our atmosphere and contribute to global warming.

On your take-out paper bags there is a logo/symbol of Ronald McDonald “slam-dunking” his trash into a trash can. This is encouraging your customers not to litter and this is important. On the other hand, we think that it would be better for the Earth if Ronald McDonald promoted recycling instead. Please help us to solve the garbage problem by encouraging more recycling in your restaurants.

A lot of people eat at your restaurants and we think it's your responsibility to not only serve them healthy and nutritious food but also to teach them how to look after the environment. Your company could become an important leader in the recycling movement and educate children about how to recycle properly. It would be very helpful to our planet if your restaurants recycled more products.

Thank you for your time and for caring about our planet.

Sincerely,

Mr. Foster's Grade 4 class
Harry J. Clarke Public School
77 Rollins Drive
Belleville, ON
K8N 4J6