Lancashire cricketer and presenter Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff has swapped his cricket whites for a high-vis McDonald’s vest as he embarked on a day of litter picking.
The Preston-born sporting legend was taking part in McDonald’s UK wide ‘Keep it Clean’ campaign, joining crew from the McDonald’s restaurant at Riverside Retail Park in Salford for an epic canal litter pick.
This event was just one out of 91 across the UK, marking McDonald’s biggest ever nationwide litter pick, in which over 150 restaurants got involved.
The mammoth week-long event saw more than 1,300 volunteers take part, including reality TV stars, sporting legends, radio presenters and music artists, collecting more than 1,000 bags of litter across the country.
The event at the riverbank of the Manchester Shipping Canal followed a week of rallying from Freddie and the McDonald’s restaurant team, encouraging locals to get involved in Greater Manchester, either through organised events or with friends and family.
Franchisee Mark Nuttall, who owns and operates 13 restaurants in the area, said: “It was fantastic to see Freddie in Salford, doing his bit to keep the city looking beautiful.
“I’m passionate about tackling the problem of litter in Salford, especially in the areas local to my restaurants.
“My teams go on daily litter-picking walks, and we organise regular litter picks as part of our ongoing commitment to keeping our streets clean and tidy.”
As further incentive to get picking, McDonald’s is proud to continue its partnership with LitterLotto, which encourages everyone to pick up litter when they see it and share a picture of their litter pick to win a prize.
With a jackpot of up to £25,000, picking up litter could really pay off.
Simon Jacobs, Lord of Litter at LitterLotto, added: “We’re excited to be working together with McDonald’s to incentivise people to bin their litter responsibly, and experience the joy of binning by winning prizes through the LitterLotto app.
"Together with McDonald’s UK, we’re on a quest to reduce litter, protect wildlife, clear our rivers and oceans of waste material - and make more waste available for recycling.”
McDonald’s has organised the UK’s biggest ever litter pick as it hits the 40-year milestone of formally collecting litter in local communities.
With three litter picks organised by every restaurant team each day across the UK and Ireland, McDonald’s crew collect on average 27 tonnes of litter every year, covering a total of 5,000 miles each week.
In addition, McDonald’s has recycling units in over 1,100 of its restaurants, it recycles coffee cups from all coffee retailers and continues to develop a new industry standard for paper straws.
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