McDonald's defends its new filtered and paid tap water offer
About 1.70 euros for 25 centilitres, and 2.30 euros for 50 centilitres: this is now the price of a glass of water at McDonald's, which has stopped selling its classic bottles of Evian and Badoit (group Danone) that accompanied the menus. Flat or sparkling, this new “Eau by McDo” is supposed to make it possible to swap plastic bottles for cardboard cups deemed more ecological. “The end of the distribution of plastic bottles is a world first for our brand. On average, 75 million bottles were sold in McDonald's restaurants in France. This new commitment will save more than 1,000 tonnes of additional plastic,” argued the brand in a press release published on April 22 to announce the measure.
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Problem: according to testimonies, including that of a restaurant manager filmed with a hidden camera by franceinfo, Eau by McDo would be nothing more than tap water, "filtered more more more". An initiative that made Dan Lert, deputy mayor of Paris in charge of ecological transition and president of Eau de Paris, jump. "The calculations are not good", he wrote on Twitter, recalling that the price of "water by Eau de Paris" is 0.003 euros per liter, against 7 euros per liter for McDonald's water.
The free carafe, a legal obligation
With the HuffPost, McDonald's defends for its part an offer for which "90% of the customers questioned say they are satisfied", because it "allows customization and to have a more diversified water offer". In concrete terms, a customer can request still, sparkling or lime flavored water.
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This new offer should not prevent McDonald's customers from getting free tap water. Indeed, the decree of June 8, 1967 requires restaurateurs to provide a carafe of water free of charge with the service of a meal. In a text dedicated to this question, the General Directorate for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF) thus indicates that "the price of the meal must include cover, namely bread, ordinary water, spices or ingredients, crockery, glassware, napkins, etc., which are usually made available to the customer during the meal”. However, this obligation does not apply in a café that does not serve meals.
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