Burger King removes plastic lids from all soft drinks in UK restaurants

Burger King has taken a huge step for sustainability by permanently removing all plastic lids on soft drinks served to customers dining in UK restaurants. The effort is predicted to save over 30,000kg of plastic every single year.

The global fast-food chain has announced it will be making the move to honour its ongoing commitment to reach 0% single-use plastic by 2025. BK has predicted it will be pulling at least 17 million plastic lids from circulation.

Burger King says that “while spilling a drink is annoying, it’s not the end of the world…but single-use plastic could be.” The plastic lid initiative has already commenced at restaurants nationwide and will affect dine-in customers only.

There will still be lids on all hot drinks, as well as takeaway and delivery orders due to health and safety precautions. The bold move comes just four years after the burger-joint banned plastic toys from King Jr Meals and has announced it’s committed to having a 50% meat-free menu by 2030.

Katie Evans from Burger King UK said: “We’re excited to be introducing this permanent removal of plastic lids in restaurants, ultimately reducing single-use plastics. Our Meltdown campaign in 2019, removing plastic toys from King Jr Meals, was the first significant step on our journey and this next step will take us closer to reaching our target of removing all single-use plastic by 2025.”

Full list of drinks no longer served with a plastic lid

• Coca Cola
• Diet Coke
• Coke Zero
• Sprite Zero
• Fanta
• Sprite
• Dr Pepper
• Freestyle drinks
• Frozen drinks
• Milkshakes