{"id":329,"date":"2025-03-17T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-17T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mugfoundry.com\/?p=329"},"modified":"2025-03-18T13:03:37","modified_gmt":"2025-03-18T13:03:37","slug":"mcdonalds-announces-biggest-happy-meal-change-in-years-is-coming-to-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mugfoundry.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/17\/mcdonalds-announces-biggest-happy-meal-change-in-years-is-coming-to-uk\/","title":{"rendered":"McDonald\u2019s announces \u2018biggest\u2019 Happy Meal change in years is coming to UK"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\"Three\t<\/div>
McDonald\u2019s is making a major change to Happy Meals in the UK (Picture: McDonald\u2019s)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

McDonald\u2019s<\/a> Happy Meals have been a staple on the fast food chain\u2019s<\/a> menu for almost 40 years in the UK.<\/p>\n

During this time, they\u2019ve undergone some major changes \u2013 from the iconic yellow smile being removed <\/a>from the boxes, to the introduction of four new food options<\/a> for kids. But one of the biggest changes in their history has to be the removal of\u00a0plastic toys<\/a>, which came into force in 2021.<\/p>\n

In a bid to reduce its environmental impact and cut down on their use of virgin fossil fuel-based plastics, Maccies transitioned from plastic toys<\/a> such as action figures, My Little Ponies and music players to offering books and soft toys. Most recently this included the introduction of paper fibre toys for children.<\/p>\n

However, the chain has just announced<\/strong> its biggest change to Happy Meals<\/a> in six years, which is that it\u2019s going to be changing its stance on plastic toys.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"A\t<\/div>
Happy Meals came with plastic toys in the UK until 2021 (Picture: David Paul Morris\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For decades customers had been able to save and pass on their Happy Meal toys for new generations to enjoy, but it seems some of the newer ones haven\u2019t offered the same longevity and durability, due to the \u2018limitations\u2019 of paper. <\/p>\n

As such, McDonald\u2019s is looking into using more \u2018durable materials\u2019 \u2013 including plastic \u2013 to give families the \u2018value\u2019 they deserve, while still meeting global sustainability ambitions.<\/p>\n

According to the chain, \u2018choosing the right material\u2019 for each toy is key, and in some cases this will continue to be paper. But where they feel plastic is the right option they will explore the type of plastics that can be used.<\/p>\n

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class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-video-placeholder-thumbnail\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-video-placeholder-headline\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-video-placeholder\">\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-video-placeholder-thumbnail\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-video-placeholder-headline\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\twindow.addEventListener(‘metroVideo:relatedVideosCarouselLoaded’, function(data) {<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tif (typeof(data.detail) === ‘undefined’ || typeof(data.detail.carousel) === ‘undefined’ || typeof(data.detail.carousel.el_) === ‘undefined’) {<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\treturn;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t}<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tvar player = data.detail.carousel.el_;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tvar container = player.closest(‘.metro-video-player’);<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tvar placeholder = container.querySelector(‘.metro-video-player__up-next-placeholder’);<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tcontainer.removeChild(placeholder);<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tcontainer.classList.add(‘metro-video-player–related-videos-loaded’);<br \/>\n\t\t\t});<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Currently they are looking at using two types of ISCC Plus Certified (International Sustainability and Carbon Certification system) plastic, including Mass Balance plastic, where some of the plastic is made from used cooking oil, and Green PE, which is plastic made in part from sugar cane.<\/p>\n<p>Both of these are recyclable via specialist recycling and McDonald\u2019s is teaming up with Wastebuster and joining their Recycle to Read programme, helping encourage families to rehome unwanted toys, recycle broken plastic toys and help get books into schools to support children\u2019s literacy.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking about the Happy Meal change, Ben Fox, the chief marketing officer for McDonald\u2019s UK & Ireland told <strong>Metro<\/strong>: \u2018Our iconic Happy Meal has been creating fun family moments for decades and that familiar feeling of excitement when kids open the box to discover which book or toy it contains.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u2018The new approach we\u2019re testing means that we can keep delivering that great experience through a range of toys made with different recyclable materials that children can enjoy playing with for longer.\u2019<\/p>\n<section class=\"metro-comment-cta\">\n<div class=\"metro-comment-cta__inner\"><span class=\"metro-comment-cta__text-wrap\"><title>Comment now<\/title><span class=\"metro-comment-cta__text\">What do you think about the return of plastic toys in Happy Meals?<\/span><\/span><a class=\"metro-comment-cta__button\" href=\"#metro-comments-container\">Comment Now<\/a><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p>This isn\u2019t the only change McDonald\u2019s has made of late, as the chain recently added a brand new item to the menu \u2013<a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2025\/03\/12\/mcdonalds-fans-uk-can-finally-try-legendary-shamrock-shake-us-22712008\/\"> the Shamrock Shake.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The vivid peppermint milkshake had become somewhat of a cult item amongst fans, after being sold in the US for years, but never previously being available in the UK.<\/p>\n<p>However, it has finally made its debut here, and those who want to try it will have to be quick as it\u2019s only available for a limited time until March 25 \u2013 and once it\u2019s gone, it\u2019s gone.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Do you have a story to share?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Get in touch by emailing <a href=\"mailto:MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk\">MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>McDonald\u2019s is making a major change to Happy Meals in the UK (Picture: McDonald\u2019s) McDonald\u2019s Happy Meals have been a staple on the fast food chain\u2019s menu for almost 40 years in the UK. During this time, they\u2019ve undergone some major changes \u2013 from the iconic yellow smile being removed from the boxes, to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":331,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mugfoundry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mugfoundry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mugfoundry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mugfoundry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mugfoundry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.mugfoundry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":334,"href":"http:\/\/www.mugfoundry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329\/revisions\/334"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mugfoundry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mugfoundry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mugfoundry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mugfoundry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}