Day 059 - 01 Dec 94 - Page 30


     
     1
     2   Q.   They moved to this country when?
     3        A.  Two years ago.
     4
     5   Q.   I am not suggesting you do have to, but if you had to make
     6        an equation -- "equation" would be the wrong word because
     7        it might not be an equation -- if you had to do, as it
     8        were, a balancing exercise between polystyrene foam and
     9        paper from the environmental point of view, remembering
    10        that polystyrene foam has to be blown and then disposed of,
    11        and remembering that paper comes from trees at one stage or
    12        another in its life cycle, where do you think the balance
    13        would lie, from an environmental point of view?
    14        A.  From an environmental point of view, I think it is six
    15        of one and half a dozen of the other.  I really do not see
    16        that you could come down in favour of polystyrene or
    17        paper.
    18
    19   Q.   What if it was suggested, Mr. Oakley, that you should
    20        abandon disposable packaging altogether and go back to what
    21        some might regard as the good old days when you went into a
    22        restaurant or a cafe and you got a plate made of pottery or
    23        china and a knife and fork probably made of steel of some
    24        kind, what would be your response to that?
    25        A.  My response would be, very simply, that to have
    26        reusables in the restaurant, which is what you are
    27        referring to ---
    28
    29   Q.   Yes.
    30        A.  -- I do not think would be as safe, I do not think a
    31        reusable is as hygienic, it certainly takes more energy to
    32        clean and wash reusables and you would certainly pollute
    33        the air through cleaning and washing reusables.  So,
    34        I think the balance in take-away packaging is better.
    35
    36   Q.   Are you aware whether anybody has studied that question,
    37        usables or disposables, I should say, versus reusables, in
    38        a scientific manner?
    39        A.  Yes, I am aware.
    40
    41   Q.   Are you aware of the results of that work?
    42        A.  Yes, I have seen the results of that study.
    43
    44   Q.   What does it tell you?
    45        A.  Pretty much what I have just told you.
    46
    47   Q.   Was that work done by the industry, as it were, by the
    48        fast food disposable packaging industry?
    49        A.  No, it was not.  It was done by an independent company
    50        in Switzerland. 
    51 
    52   MR. MORRIS:  Sorry, was that one of the documents? 
    53
    54   MR. RAMPTON:  No, we do not have it.  The document you have is
    55        the one that was done in America which Mr. Langert referred
    56        to.
    57
    58   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  We need to have it if it is going to be
    59        relied on.
    60

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