ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — In the latest move by a fast-food giant to do its part towards environmental sustainability, Kentucky Fried Chicken Canada is exploring eco-friendly buckets made out of bamboo.
The plant fibre, which will first be tested as poutine bucket next year, is one of several new consumer- and environmentally friendly materials the company will be testing according to a release from the company.
Although bamboo is a new innovation to packaging, it has been used throughout history for many applications, from food sources to building materials.
The chain espouses the virtue of the fast-growing plants, which it says grow on average 24 inches per day and reaching its adult size in 3-5 years. It boasts that bamboo "is naturally anti-bacterial and 100 per cent biodegradable, requires no pesticides, and regenerates itself very quickly when harvested."
Earlier this year, KFC Canada committed to sourcing 100 per cent of fiber-based packaging from certified or recycled sources by 2020. The company says it's also continuing to pursue making all plastic-based, consumer-facing packaging recoverable or reusable by 2025, and announced in July that all plastic straws and bags would be removed from restaurants before the end of 2019, thereby eliminating more than 50 million plastic straws and 10 million plastic bags from the communities it serves.
KFC fans will have the opportunity to test out the new bamboo fiber poutine bucket in select restaurants across Canada in 2020.
