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McDonald’s to reduce plastic in Happy Meal toys

A big change is coming to the iconic McDonald’s Happy Meal.

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It’s not the food that is changing, rather, it’s what comes with the meal, and what most kids are really after — THE TOYS.

The fast-food chain announced Tuesday that it will be reducing the amount of plastic that is used in the toys, CNN reported.

Some of the giveaways will be 3-D paper-based kits that kids can assemble themselves.

Other toys may be a board game with the plastic pieces removed.

The new toys will start launching in January, CNN reported.

This is not the first tweak to the toy line that comes with kid’s meals.

In 2019, two girls in Britain asked McDonald’s and its competitor Burger King to stop creating plastic toys. Their petition had more than 500,000 signatures.

Burger King did away with plastic toys in the U.K. in kids meals in 2019, Huffington Post reported.

Two years ago, McDonald’s tried books, board games and plush toys in its meals sold in the U.K., which, along with Ireland, will no longer have toys made from non-recycled or non-renewable hard plastic.

McDonald’s has included similar items in the U.S. over the years, like the Beanie Babies in the 1990s and a series of books starting in 2013, that has been brought back a few times.

Happy Meals in France also do not come with plastic toys.

Those changes have allowed the company to reduce the use of what is called virgin plastic by 30% since 2018, CNN reported, with a goal of 90% reduction by 2025 compared to what was used in 2018, Huffington Post reported.

Burger King made a similar pledge to get rid of non-biodegradable plastic toys by the end of 2025.

McDonald’s sells more than a billion toys each year, Huffington Post reported.