THE GOODS : ECONOTES : And a Side Order of Recycling

Buy recycled.

That’s the message McDonald’s Corp. is serving up for 1995 along with Big Macs. The fast-food giant has issued a major call to action for consumers and businesses to buy products made from recycled materials.

The idea is to keep the recycled market competitive, says McDonald’s spokesman Walt Riker.

“There’s probably some frustration on the part of Americans who are doing household recycling and wondering where it all goes. We strongly believe that a key to building the market is to make more people aware it exists and that there are lots of choices out there.”

McDonald’s is getting the message out on a new tray liner with a “Buy Recycled and Save” message and a list of available products made from recycled materials ranging from carpeting to mop handles.

“We’re starting this month with 30 million tray liners,” Riker says.

“It’s a tremendous forum to reach consumers and we have used it for various messages, like fire safety and school programs.”

The campaign, which eventually will reach 200 million customers, was kicked off in last week in Washington by McDonald’s, the Environmental Defense Fund and the Advertising Council.

It marks Phase Two of an unlikely partnership launched four years ago when McDonald’s, at the urging of the EDF, announced it would substitute paper for its polystyrene foam clamshells and start buying recycled in a big way, setting the goal of $100 million a year for its restaurants.

The company has more than succeeded, says Ed Rensi, president of McDonald’s USA: “We’re hitting the billion-dollar milestone five years ahead of schedule.”

EDF Executive Director Fred Krupp, who was instrumental in launching what he termed the “odd couple relationship” four years ago, sees McDonald’s as leading the way toward changing throw-away habits.

Citing a new federal Environmental Protection Agency report that recycling rates have increased to the highest levels since World War II, Krupp emphasizes: “The only way to keep this success story growing is for consumers to buy the new products coming from recycled materials.”

Under “McRecycle USA,” McDonald’s uses recycled products in the construction and operation of all its 9,600 U.S. restaurants.

Plastic water, milk and juice jugs have been turned into McDonald’s trays, old car parts make steel frame chairs, and recycled tires have been used for the company’s Playland surfaces.

“We want to take recycling into the 21st Century,” Rensi says.