What Does McDonald's Do With Leftover Food?

With an annual revenue of over $25 billion, according to the chain's 2024 annual report, it's safe to say that Mickey D's (or whichever other nickname you call McDonald's) turns around massive amounts of food every single year. Inevitably, some of those Happy Meals are leftover, so what exactly happens to whatever the chain doesn't sell? Generally speaking, the food gets disposed of in alignment with special guidelines for dealing with food waste that McDonald's reportedly follows. Very rarely do employees take any leftovers home. The company also donates ingredients and freshly cooked meals when it can.

McDonald's adapted its guidelines from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) steps for dealing with food waste. Per the EPA's recommendation, minimizing the opportunities for waste throughout the supply chain is the number one step for addressing food waste. Next comes donating and upcycling, followed by using the waste for animal feed, composting, or disposing of it through anaerobic digestion, in that order. Due to these procedures, McDonald's reports that it wastes "less than 1% of its edible food stock."

While we can't know exactly how McDonald's implements these practices, we do know that the employees are required to record the specific menu items wasted on each shift. McDonald's partners with organizations that help coordinate and distribute donations of food, such as Food Donation Connection, The Global FoodBanking Network, and Feeding America, per the chain's website.

It's important to differentiate between the food that's leftover at McDonald's restaurants at the end of the day and food that gets donated through special initiatives. When meals get donated, they are specially prepared for that purpose and are not leftovers. For example, the chain has been known to donate free "thank you meals" to first responders and teachers.

That said, ingredients that aren't used up and are still stored safely can get donated directly to food banks — a practice that was implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic in response to an alarming rise in food insecurity. McDonald's reportedly donated $12 million worth of food between March and June 2020 alone, according to its website. The actual leftover meals, however, cannot get donated because of food safety reasons.

The general rule at McDonald's is to throw out the food after it's been standing for 15 minutes, according to some Reddit users, though the employees admit that this policy isn't always implemented in practice unless the fast food shows clear signs of spoilage. The meals that don't get sold are put into a waste bucket and counted at the end of the day. From there, it's up to the corporate overheads to determine exactly how the waste will get disposed of. While some managers do allow the employees to take the leftovers home, this is largely discouraged.