That next cup of coffee you order at McDonald’s may be more environmentally friendly — and easier on your fingers.
Two-thousand McDonald’s restaurants — including 15 percent of those in the United States — are testing replacing polystyrene cups with paper cups, which are more easily recycled and not made with styrene. The National Institutes of Health considers styrene a likely carcinogen.
What’s more, the new cups are double-hulled to protect drinkers from burning their fingers.
"The objective of this test is to assess customer acceptance, operational impact, and overall performance," McDonald's USA spokeswoman Ashlee Yingling tells msnbc.com.
The activist group As You Sow presented McDonald’s shareholders a proposal detailing packaging recycling goals at their last meeting. The group revealed the fast-food giant’s cup testing plans Wednesday, according to msnbc.com.
"This is a great first step for McDonald's and we hope it will lead to a permanent switch to paper cups in all of its restaurants," Conrad MacKerron, As You Sow's senior program director, said in a statement. "Given the company's history of using high levels of recycled content in other food packaging, we hope that it follows suit with its cups, and also establishes a robust recycling program for post-consumer waste left in its restaurants."
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