From low-flow water faucets to converting French fry oil to fuel, McDonald's is testing ways to reduce the impact its 31,000-plus restaurants have on the world's resources. McDonald's has made a variety of environmentally driven changes including changing the amount of packaging it uses, moving a third of its fish purchases to more sustainable sources and implementing a program to buy goods made from recycled materials.

In Switzerland, the company installed dry urinals in its restaurants, cutting its water consumption by nearly 10 percent, and in the United Kingdom, some restaurants are converting used frying oil into biodiesel that is used to fuel the trucks delivering goods to the stores. A franchisee in Savannah, Georgia, built the first McDonald's restaurant certified by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system.