As McDonald’s has started implementing its new bag-free to-go policy, some customers are starting to get creative with the way in which they bring their orders into their cars. One McDonald’s drive-thru customer, in particular, decided they could use the liner that comes with the tray to get their meal through the window and into their car without making a mess.
In the recent TikTok video posted by @valbrule, the McDonald’s employee hands a tray that is typically used for dine-in orders through the drive-thru window, as they have been made to follow the regional bag ban order.
One employee was laughing as they handed the order through the window, noting that this is what the city is making them do at this point.
The woman that posted the video said that she tried to film without capturing the employee on camera, and that, luckily, her order that she needed to keep together was pretty small.
In the video caption, she put that she only had three things in her order, and she was very careful not to get the McDonald’s worker on video, as many people don’t like being filmed.
The bag ban has not been around for long. In fact, the city of Edmonton, which is in Alberta, Canada, implemented it on July 1. Now, there is one McDonald’s location in the city that is advertising a $0.15 fee for when drive-thru orderers want bags.
Several cities over the past decade have implemented laws surrounding plastic bag bans. Some cities have banned them altogether, while others are charging fees for single-use plastic bags. The city of Edmonton is taking an approach all its own, changing laws to help people avoid using single-use items completely.
Per the Edmonton website, it is the city’s goal to try and “reduce waste by replacing or avoiding single-use bags, not switch out plastic for non-plastic.”
With that said, plastic bags still have their limitations in the city.
Plastic shopping bags that are pegged as single-use, including those that are made with biodegradable or compostable plastic, are no longer allowed to be distributed to customers. Customers who want to buy a new reusable shopping bag must pay $1, while those who want to use a paper shopping bag must pay $0.15.
Many TikTok users were quick to say that they would bring their own plastic shopping bags from home to carry their McDonald’s rather than pay the small fee.
Another user wrote, “They better give me a plastic straw if I pay for that paper bag.”
Someone else said, “ Why are they charging for paper bags at all? Aren’t they already recycling them?”
A third user noted that a McDonald’s in Chicago is charging 10 cents a bag, although, according to expert sources, the current fee is actually 7 cents.
Will people start accepting the small fee for McDonald’s paper bags or find more ingenious ways to transport their meals without coughing up extra cash? We’re sure we’ll find out soon.
