Green Urinals at McDonald's in Woolwich

27th November 2009: As part of the restaurant’s continuous efforts to achieve environmental improvement, McDonald’s in Woolwich has installed new urinals, which are significantly reducing the restaurant’s water consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.

The new waterless urinals have been awarded a Waterwise Marque, which is the first scheme in the UK to highlight water efficient products. Each of the two new urinals will save the restaurant, on average, 100,000 litres of water per year and subsequently reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 17.5KG. The cleaner used for the urinals is just as environmentally friendly as it is ecological, biodegradable, and biological containing no environmentally harmful chemicals or agents. Should the urinals ever need replacing, the bowl is 100% recyclable and the manufacturing process is carbon neutral.

Speaking about his new toilets, Taimoor Sheikh, franchisee for McDonald’s in Woolwich said: “I’m very pleased that our new urinals mean that we are able to have a positive impact on the local environment. The UK has less available water per person than most other European countries and London is drier than Istanbul, so we should all do more to assess how efficient we are being with such a precious resource.”

To coincide with the installation of the environmentally friendly urinals, the restaurant has added automatic basin taps in washrooms, which use less water and only operate on demand, as well as fast hand dryers to reduce energy consumption.

The installation of the new urinals is part of McDonald’s Woolwich environmental programme around the hierarchy of ‘Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle’. Other environmental initiatives that Taimoor Sheikh has undertaken at the restaurant over the past few months include, putting in place window films on the first and second floor dining areas, which keep out the heat and sun in the summer and retain the heat during the winter months. In addition, the restaurant has installed a spray hose in its backroom to clean utensils, which saves over 100,000 litres of water per year.

Notes to Editors:

About McDonald’s Woolwich

 Woolwich was the first McDonald’s Restaurant to open in the UK in 1974 and recently celebrate its 35th Birthday.

 The restaurant employs 70 people, which includes many people from the local area.

 The longest serving employee has been working at the restaurant for 34 years.

 Taimoor Sheikh became the first franchisee of the restaurant 11 months ago.

 The restaurant is currently training nine members of staff to achieve a Level 2 Apprenticeship in Multi-Skilled Hospitality, a nationally recognised qualification that is equivalent to five GCSEs grade A*-C.

About Waterwise

 Waterwise is a UK NGO focused on decreasing water consumption in the UK and building the evidence base for large-scale water efficiency.

 Waterwise is the leading authority on water efficiency in the UK.

For more information, please contact:

Bieneosa Ebite Bright Star Public Relations Tel: 0203 212 2152 Mob: 07958 044 321 Email bieneosa.ebite@brightstarpr.net