How we made McDonald's #1 environmentally responsible company in Ukraine by reducing waste by 60%

Kristina Nikolayeva, Be—it Agency, Managing Director Miroslava Gribova, Be—it Agency, Head of Corporate Communications Practice Yevgen Posokhov, Be—it Agency, Associate Creative Director Olena Severin, Be—it Agency, Creative Copywriter Pavlo Pastushenko, Be—it Agency, Creative Copywriter Elnara Imanova, Be—it Agency, Account Head Oleksandra Tsyliya, Be—it Agency, Account Director Snezhana Pushkar, Be—it Agency, Account Director

BACKGROUND Waste sorting in Ukraine does not work yet. Single sorting initiatives launched by local authorities in the past have failed, causing skepticism among citizens. According to research, 61% of Ukrainians didn’t believe that the sorted waste would be recycled. When new separate containers appeared somewhere, many people continued to throw any waste into any dumpster. Inspired by McDonald's global impact focus to protect our planet for communities today and in the future, we decided to tackle this huge issue. We launched pilot waste sorting in 16 of our 90+ restaurants in Ukraine. Our GOALS were: #1: making the pilot successful so waste sorting could be unrolled further to all restaurants nationwide in 2021. #2: making nationwide sorting at McDonald's a success and helping the company become a role model for the other Ukrainian businesses. We needed to create a PR campaign to reach the goals without other marketing support. IDEA Our idea was to show what no one wants to see - what was going on inside the waste dumpster. We decided to dive into it to publicly investigate and show how it all worked, and thus persuade our audiences that the waste sorting and recycling at McDonald’s was real. And we took the bold and brave decision to gather an army of ambassadors to convince people to sort waste packaging in the restaurants instead of us. Our PR STRATEGY was to: 1. To persuade all our employees that we were serious about waste, and about changing consumer behaviour 2. So later our crew members in pilot restaurants would engage restaurant customers to sort their waste after having meal in-store 3. Then we could roll this out across all of Ukraine, persuading customers everywhere that McDonald's recycles their sorted waste. Our key message was, "Package waste sorted by you at McDonald's is recycled. Here’s how we do it". EXECUTION First, we turned McDonald's employees into our waste sorting ambassadors. We wrote a song about waste sorting at McDonald’s called "THE PLANET ADMIRES YOU" and conducted an internal casting for starring in the music video shoot among the restaurant employees. The video went viral among all 10,000+ crew members country-wide! Our internal edutainment campaign inspired and taught why and how to sort package waste correctly, and we made it genuinely entertaining. Then, we busted the myths Ukrainians had regarding recycling. We made public an individual route of every package waste type. We showed closely how the company handled collection, transportation, additional sorting, and recycling processes. To make the most impact, we took bloggers and influencers on the waste recycling journey. During 1,5 months-long campaign, we pitched stories on the recycling project progress, made video explainers for digital, and produced media and TV projects and social media content. RESULTS: The crucial role of our ambassadors: We engaged 3000 employees all over Ukraine - every 3rd became a recycling ambassador. This was the best engagement out of all McDonald’s internal initiatives globally. The real impact on the planet: Massive 60% less waste in 2021 generated in restaurants as it became recycled raw materials. Example: 3,000,000 paper bags for delivery and takeaway orders, made from waste sorted in McDonald’s, returned to the restaurants. [Source: Internal data by McDonald’s and its recycling partners.] The impact on the ecosystem: We revived a recycling plant for paper cups! The impact on the brand: Ukrainians named McDonald's #1 environmentally responsible company in the country. 53% (vs 36% after pilot) Ukrainians know that McDonald’s customers can sort their package waste 71% of customers trust that McDonald's recycles the sorted waste. We managed to overcome widespread distrust and win the hearts of our guests. [Source: Recycling Awareness & Attitude Study, Wave1 (June, 2021) and Wave2 (October, 2021)]. Media outcome: 5,000,000+ impressions by earned (media, bloggers), owned (internal channels for employees, social media for customers), partners’ (social media) and paid media (online, TV stories). [Source: data provided by monitoring agency, media agency, Google Analytics] Recognition: The mayor of Lviv, one of the biggest cities in Ukraine, honoured McDonald's with a special acknowledgement for a significant contribution to raising awareness and developing a culture of waste sorting. Our sorting initiative's success crossed the country's border. 'Promoting Trust in Business' Initiative by AmChams in Europe approached us to share our case with its members. WHY THIS CAMPAIGN? This work is a brilliant example of a well-thought combination of a classic PR approach and creativity where good internal communications come first and create advocates among employees for external customers on a challenging topic. The campaign perfectly demonstrates how entertaining, engaging, and effective PR instruments can be, to name a specially written and becoming viral song about recycling with employees starring in a video, or a recycling trip for media/bloggers to investigate the recycling path of a restaurant package waste. And as a result, the real impact on the planet generated and McDonald’s named the #1 environmentally responsible company.