McDonald's to Introduce Reusable Hamburger Buns

By: Neil Schnall April fool 2011 :-) In a move reflective of their heightened commitment to sustainability and CSR, McDonald's Corporation (NYSE: MCD) has announced the introduction of the industry's first fully reusable hamburger bun. The new bun will first be introduced on a new sandwich called "The McAgain," before being utilized across all major product lines. It is expected to reduce waste by 37 percent and processed flour inputs by upwards of 71 percent. "This new offering will revolutionize the relationship between the average McDonald's customer and the full lifecycle of our products, " said CEO Jim Skinner in front of the Toledo, Ohio factory that will produce the new buns. "Considering that our current buns have minimal, if any, nutritional content, and exist solely to keep the customer's hands from getting messy and greasy, we figured why not just make them into reusable, edible packaging. Founder Ray Kroc's dream was to get our customers involved in our supply chain, and now that dream is a reality." The new buns will be made out of a high-tech, 100% undigestible, synthetic fiber produced from material similar to household insulation. The material is designed to pass through the human digestive system with little to no atrophy, and is specifically engineered to pass through in less than 10 minutes after completing the sandwich, thus allowing the customer to return the material right to the restaurant. McDonald's restaurant commodes will be equiped with specially designed collection systems that will trap the reusable material before passing it through a sanitation system and sending it back to the kitchen for reprocessing into new buns. It is possible that the same seven ounces of material-per-burger will be reused up to 17 times per day in the average restaurant. If the customer is able to make it home before the throughput process is complete, they will have a number of options. McDonald's is working with municipal waste departments in several major US cities to develop reclimation processes to collect the bun material for reprocessing. In addition, customers will be able to keep the material themselves for reuse in homemade meals, kitty litter, arial sports training, arts and crafts, as well as a number of other commercial and industrial uses. Post-consumption use suggestions will be provided through McDonald's Facebook fan page.