Beach clean from local footballers and McDonald’s restaurant

The local Bideford McDonald’s restaurant team, alongside players, coaches and parents from Bideford AFC youth teams, have taken part in a litter event on the beach front of Westwood Ho! in a bid to keep their local area tidy.

Over 100 volunteers, including crew members from the Bideford restaurant, which is owned and operated by local Franchisee David Shawyer, collected more than 15 bags of rubbish. 

McDonald’s Franchisee, David Shawyer who owns and operates the restaurant, and who organised the event, said: “I couldn’t be prouder of my fantastic team for giving their time to their local community, ensuring the areas we all enjoy are clear of litter – making them a better and brighter place for those that live here. It was also a pleasure to be joined by volunteers from the Bideford AFC youth teams. We continue to put people at the very heart of what we do, and this is just one example of our dedication to being a good neighbour.”

The partnership David Shawyer’s restaurant has with Bideford AFC youth teams has spanned for several seasons, with over £1000 of equipment being donated for the 2024/25 season. All the fantastic work that the restaurant does with the youth football teams has resulted in the Bideford restaurant winning McDonald’s Football Restaurant of the Year Award for 2024!

McDonald’s crew members have been cleaning up litter dropped in local communities for over 35 years. Crews across the UK cover a total of 5,000 miles each week on litter patrols (where they collect all types of litter, not just McDonald’s branded packaging). This equates to 260,000 miles, or the distance from Earth to the Moon since the programme began in the late ‘80s.

McDonald’s is tackling litter in local communities, both by litter picking and reducing the amount of waste its restaurants produce. The brand has been working to make recycling easier over the past four years too, and since 2015, has installed over 1,100 new recycling units, meaning it’s easier to separate plastics and cups for recycling in 85% of its restaurants. McDonald’s also collects used oil from its kitchens and turns this into enough biodiesel to fuel more than half of its delivery fleet.