Fast Food Restaurants That Compost: Greenwashing or Eco-Friendly Business?

Compost bins at Burgerville, a Northwest-based fast food chain. (photo: croqzine.com)

During a recent (and rare) trip to Burger King, I was shocked when it was time to throw away my wrappers, napkins and little ketchup cup. There were two bins: one for compost, and one for trash. Of course, when I peeked inside, I saw napkins mistakenly tossed in the garbage, and wrappers in the compost bin.

After doing a little research, I’ve found that restaurants – especially fast food ones that generate tons of waste – are starting to compost. Some do it because of composting laws, like those in San Francisco. But others cite the money savings. In an interview in QRS Magazine, an official with the Pacific Northwest-based Burgerville chain said that switching from landfill hauling to recycling and composting saves $80,000 a year. And in San Francisco, separating compost from trash can earn businesses a diversion discount credit commensurate with their trash reductions. So in theory, a restaurant that removes 50% of their trash gets a 50% credit (it caps at 75%, but the more a restaurant reduces their trash, the lower their trash bill).

The Bay Area McDonald’s is doing the best so far, according to the San Francisco Appeal, thanks to employees who follow trash-bin protocol. And when their customers commingle the recycling and compost (like they did at the Burger King I visited), their employees re-sort it and put it in the right places. They’re working with the city to introduce customer-side bins to collect scraps from diners, which could also improve the sorting problem.

Another solution to getting customers to sort their food waste is to take pictures. Yup, just like we do for little kids to sort their toys. For one Burger King location, the bins are illustrated with instructional photos of all the food and compostable materials.

Fast food restaurants aren’t exactly known for their focus on sustainability (ahem), and while local franchises are making improvements, it doesn’t have nearly the same effect as if the entire chain were to adopt eco-friendly behaviors. It’s not only customers who need to learn how to sort; the head honchos need to start paying attention to where their Whopper wrappers and Big Mac cartons end up, too.