Over 100 McDonald’s volunteers have collected rubbish along 47 miles of Lancashire and raised more than £11,000 for charity.

Volunteers from 16 restaurants joined forces to clean the distance from Chorley to Fleetwood, via Leyland and Preston, with the support of local schools, councillors and community groups, including Ashton Primary School, Plastic Free Preston and Ashton and Riversway PACT.

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90 bags of litter were collected as part of the charity event, including face masks, wheel trims, cups, bags and cardboard.

Read more: Cottam brothers inspiring the community with their litter picking mission

The restaurants that took part challenged themselves to raise £20,000, to be split equally between Ronald McDonald House Charities UK and Age Concern Central Lancashire.

Crew members from the ASDA Fulwood, Fishergate, Deepdale, Capitol Centre, Friargate, and Riversway restaurants in Preston took on the challenge, alongside volunteers from other McDonald’s restaurants across Lancashire.

Local franchisee Nigel Dunnington owns and operates the 16 restaurants that took part.

He said: “It is such a shame when a minority of people litter the Lancashire countryside, so I am pleased with this challenge, as we’ve raised a great deal of money for two brilliant causes and been able to clear many bags of rubbish from our region. 

“I’m so proud of my team for giving their time and efforts to do their bit for our community. McDonald’s is committed to fighting litter across the UK, and we are delighted with the difference we made. I’ve supported RMHC UK for 35 years, and it always astounds me how kind and generous people are. We plan to continue fundraising to hit our target of £20,000.”

For nearly 40 years, McDonald’s franchisees and employees have cleaned up discarded litter dropped in towns and cities across the country. Crews across the UK cover a total of 5,000 miles each week on litter patrols, which equates to 260,000 miles or the distance from Earth to the Moon.

In addition to litter reduction, nearly every McDonald’s restaurant has a recycling unit to help customers dispose of their packaging responsibly.

Read more: The Body Shop in Preston one of the first to join ‘refill revolution’

The company recycles coffee cups from all coffee retailers and has developed a new industry standard for paper straws. This year, McDonald’s has eliminated hard plastic toys from the Happy Meal, with each meal containing either a soft toy, book or paper-based toy.

McDonald’s also collects used oil from its kitchens and turns it into enough biodiesel to fuel more than half its delivery fleet. Thanks to packaging innovations, it has reduced its annual plastic use by over 1,000 metric tonnes.

For more on the Lancashire Litter Walk and to donate, visit the Virgin Money Giving website.

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