tms’ Future Lab: innovating a more sustainable future for McDonald’s Happy Meal®

It’s not an easy task helping lead the charge reinventing a beloved icon, the Happy Meal toy, towards a more sustainable future – but tms’ Future Lab does just that, innovating more sustainable solutions for Happy Meals around the world.  

The Future Lab is responsible for identifying new, more sustainable materials, suppliers, and production processes for Happy Meal toys. As part of this process, they not only design but also research new toy concepts that are safe, durable, deliver high perceived value, and most importantly, align with McDonald’s Global sustainability goals. It’s an important task, especially given how iconic the Happy Meal toy has been for nearly half a century.   

Since embarking on McDonald’s sustainability journey in 2018, the Future Lab team has pushed the boundaries of what’s possible in toy design using qualified sustainable materials. Initially focusing on fiber-based materials like cardboard and paper, their efforts have evolved to include more durable, sustainable materials such as aluminum, bio-resins, and mass-balance plastics.  

Their goal? To ensure that Happy Meal toys still look and feel as they always have—only now, they’re made from qualified sustainable materials instead of traditional fossil fuel plastics. Over the past three years, the team has reviewed over 400 new materials, narrowed that list down to 200, and successfully qualified 37 new more sustainable materials to date for use in Happy Meal toys.  

The team’s dedication recently led to a groundbreaking achievement: for the first time in Happy Meal history, they’ve developed a process to use recycled plastics in toys. After two years of collaboration with McDonald’s Global Safety, the tms Supply Chain team, and an independent safety lab, Future Lab has successfully qualified mechanically recycled plastic materials for use in plush Happy Meal toys. Now, recycled PET plastic water bottles can be transformed into the outer fabric and internal stuffing of these toys—a feat that has never been done before.  

With their continued focus on innovation and sustainability, the Future Lab team helps tms and McDonald’s push boundaries and set new standards in sustainable toy production.

Uncover the Future Lab’s involvement with McDonald’s campaigns like the Wiltopia PLAYMOBIL Happy Meal, where they played an integral role in aligning our campaign strategy with McDonald’s environmental commitments by finding more sustainable materials to produce the Happy Meal toys.