McDonald’s turns its drink trays into a limited edition, recyclable boombox

To celebrate the 22nd birthday of the Mcflurry, McDonalds Canada has partnered with the University of Waterloo’s Audio Research Group and industrial designers Stacklab to develop the McDonalds Boombox. The portable speaker was available for one day at an event in Toronto and turned drinks trays into a portable, disposable speaker compatible with smartphones.

The 100% recyclable boombox can reach a decibel level of 70.4 dB using double-cone polygon speakers. The ten-sided cones are foil lined, reflecting the materiality and performance of brass instruments.

“When we changed the shape of the cones of the McBoombox, the difference in sound levels was 50 percent,” says Janelle Resch, a PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo who developed the project. “When we used the reflective material, you increase the sound level by 43 percent. Inserting your phone increases the sound level by 101 percent.”

The launch of the McDonald’s Boombox coincided with KFC India announcing that it had developed a bluetooth enabled games controller combined with its famous chicken box