TORONTO -- An Ontario man says a McDonald鈥檚 restaurant wouldn鈥檛 accept his reusable mug and told him to use one of the company鈥檚 disposable cups if he wanted a coffee.
Matthew Boeckner said he stopped at the McDonald鈥檚 location at Telephone Road near Brighton, Ont. on Dec. 26 and was surprised when an employee declined to fill his travel mug, citing a franchise policy against allowing customers to use reusable mugs.
鈥淭his is something I do all the time -- it didn鈥檛 make a whole lot of sense,鈥� Boeckner said in a telephone interview with CTVNews.ca.
Boeckner says he was confused by the unexpected response and asked to speak to a manager, who confirmed that the location does not accept reusable mugs due to concerns over contamination. She added that customers鈥� travel mugs don鈥檛 always fit properly under the machines.
Boeckner said his mug is a standard-sized travel tumbler and hadn鈥檛 been used that day.
鈥淚 told her, 鈥楾his is one way that customers are looking to help and you鈥檙e not meeting them in this desire to be better for the environment鈥�,鈥� said Boeckner. 鈥淪he said, 鈥楴o, there鈥檚 nothing I can do鈥�.鈥�
Boeckner said the manager admitted to bringing in her own reusable mug to use at work but said it鈥檚 the policy of the franchise to not allow customers to do the same.
He said the manager told him that he had to use one of the store鈥檚 disposable cups if he wanted a coffee. He refused and left the store.
鈥淭he funny thing is鈥� all the trash cans outside of the location were overflowing with paper cups,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou couldn鈥檛 even fit a piece of gum into them because they was no room.鈥�
Managers at the McDonald鈥檚 location declined to comment on the incident when contacted by CTVNews.ca.
Boeckner later contacted the fast-food chain鈥檚 corporate office to file a complaint. He says the customer service representative he spoke to reiterated the concerns the manager had expressed to him.
In an email statement to CTVNews.ca, McDonald鈥檚 Canada said it is 鈥渁ssessing a new policy around reusable cups and will be testing procedures at our standalone McCafe locations in Toronto and our two Green Concept Restaurants in the near future.鈥�
McDonald鈥檚 Canada did not say what this new policy would entail or what its existing policy includes, but did say that the company is working towards 鈥渟ourcing 100 per cent of guest packaging from renewable and/or recycled materials.鈥�
Boeckner says he will no longer go to any McDonald鈥檚 locations because of the incident.
鈥淚, for one, will no longer be looking to McDonald's for my coffee needs,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is a terrible step in the wrong direction when trying to reduce single-use packaging.鈥�
