Manila, Philippines – McDonald’s continues to turn its golden arches into golden, meaningful opportunities as the fast-food giant transforms its decommissioned furniture from its reimaged restaurants into educational equipment for public school students, through the ReClassified initiative.
Each year, approximately 70 McDonald’s restaurants undergo reimaging or renovation, generating a substantial amount of usable materials such as chairs, tables, and steel components. Instead of discarding or reselling them, McDonald’s gives them a second life as facilities for classrooms, improving the learning environment of students.
“At McDonald’s, we’re committed, and driven to make a positive impact by helping solve real-world problems that communities are facing–one of which is education, specifically challenges on the lack of school facilities,” said Adi Hernandez, Assistant Vice President for Corporate Relations & Impact at McDonald’s Philippines. “By repurposing our decommissioned restaurant materials into functional classroom furniture, through ReClassified, we’re reimagining better classrooms for more conducive learning.”
This McDonald’s undertaking – launched in 2023 – scaled the problem by partnering with De La Salle-College of St. Benilde’s Interior and Design to engage and empower students from the different programs to develop innovative ideas for new classroom furniture using the same available materials from McDonald’s reimaged restaurants.
Through the first-ever ReClassified Student Competition, students were able to tap into their fresh creativity and solution-inspired thinking to propose design solutions that address some of today’s learning facility needs.
The contest attracted exceptional talent, with three outstanding teams demonstrating remarkable creativity aligned with social consciousness.
Team 4Town’s Innovative Storage Solution (3rd Place)
The third-place winners, Team 4Town, showcased genuine empathy in addressing classroom storage challenges. Comprised by BS Interior Design students Patricia Malijan, Amara Averion, and Janelle Poblete, their “TWISTIERS” design showed how thoughtful designs can effectively improve learning spaces. Together, they envisioned repurposed laminated tabletops – freestanding, modular furniture pieces with adaptable functionality extending beyond being storage units.
“We believe that the core of design is empathy. When we’re able to empathize with the users and learn more about them, designing something functional becomes easy because we’re able to put ourselves in their situation,” said Team 4Town. “We find that ReClassified was the perfect avenue for our ideas because it gave us an opportunity to visualize something that’ll be enjoyed by the students and something that was meaningful. It truly was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Team ASRA’s McShare Chair (2nd Place)
Meanwhile, Team ASRA’s “McShare Chair” took collaborative learning to a new level, earning them second place in the competition. The team—Pablo Santino So, Abby Lim, Ali Arricivita, and Reese Yulo—crafted a design that embodied true collaboration, as their innovative chair consisted of three stackable layers that can transform from a single unit into three individual chairs, while still being connected. The team emphasized that the “link” symbolizes the interconnectedness of learning.
“We were inspired by the “Ronald” design of JunkNot’s Wilhelmina Garcia, but we wanted to add a strong element of collaboration in our design so that kids can learn individually and more importantly, advance together,” Team ASRA says. “In Benilde, our leaders inculcate the spirit of community collaboration in each student. And we believe that our design, our chair, is a manifestation of this CSB-culture.”
Team Benilde’t Different’s McLaboratory (1st Place)
Team Benilde’t Different claimed the first-place prize for demonstrating design’s transformative potential with their “McLaboratory” concept. Core members Ma. Minermila A. Espeleta, Justin Benedict R. Osorio, Glenn Laurence L. Hernandez, and Ralf Dylan Sales, innovatively repurposed 70% of materials from the McDonald’s warehouse to create functional furniture for a science laboratory — a learning space often overlooked in many public academic institutions.
“Our team looked into different learning environments inside the school. Many were already focused on improving the classrooms, but we noticed that the laboratories, which are vital learning spaces, were overlooked. We didn’t just want to create furniture; we wanted to create an environment that inspires children to stay curious and to learn with their hands,” the team said.
“Coming from our ReClassified experience, we encourage more future designers to design with purpose always, using their skills and gifts for good, and turning challenges into opportunities for meaningful change.”
What’s Next for ReClassified
The ReClassified initiative, to date, has made significant strides having already distributed close to 1,000 chairs across Isabela, Marikina, Cebu, and Sta. Rosa, with plans to deploy an additional 250 chairs in Zamboanga and Agusan del Sur by year end, benefitting 1,500 students this school year alone.
Learn more about McDonald’s ReClassified here.
