Our Responsibility: Making a Big Impact

More than ever, 2018 emphasized the importance of companies taking bold action on climate change and the environment; so we’re stepping up our efforts in a big way. We want you to feel good about visiting our restaurants, and we know that means feeling good about our food, our company and the impact we have on the world.

We made some big commitments last year: like only using packaging made from renewable, recycled or certified sources* by 2025. So far, we’ve eliminated more than 300 million pounds of packaging, recycled 1 million tons of corrugated boxes and reduced waste by 30%. But that’s not all — we’re also committed to recycling 100% of guest packaging in all our restaurants by 2025. Ambitious? That’s why we’re doing it.

For years we’ve been crowdsourcing creative solutions from a number of environmental organizations — including the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) — to help with some of our most interesting challenges, like single-use cups. In fact, early last year we teamed up with Closed Loop Partners to launch the NextGen Cup Challenge with hopes of creating a recyclable or compostable cup to use in our restaurants — something we know our customers are very excited about.

But packaging is only one part of the story — our physical restaurants are the other. As we’re going through this process, we’re realizing even the smallest innovations can make a big difference. By upgrading to LED lights in our restaurants we've reduced our carbon dioxide emissions by 100,587 metric tons — that’s equivalent to removing 21,539 cars from the road for an entire year.

So why are we making these commitments? We understand that our size and influence in the world puts us in a unique position to be able to affect positive change. Our philosophy to use our #ScaleForGood is tied to building a better future for all of you, whether it’s in our restaurants or at home. 

We’ve made incredible progress, and we can’t wait to show you what’s next.