Day 059 - 01 Dec 94 - Page 41


     
     1        packaging.  You mentioned, I think, reuse as a way of
     2        reducing the amount of packaging which is used and,
     3        therefore, the amount of packaging which goes into the
     4        waste stream, yes?
     5        A.  Yes.
     6
     7   Q.   You told us that you had rejected that, reusables, for
     8        reasons principally of hygiene but also because it was
     9        energy expensive as compared with disposables?
    10        A.  Yes.
    11
    12   Q.   I am going to ask you about two other areas of waste
    13        reduction or resource use reduction, recycling, yes?
    14        A.  Yes.
    15
    16   Q.   And reduction overall in the amount of packaging which you
    17        use.  May I , first of all, ask you about the recycling of
    18        polystyrene?  You, I think, had at one time (perhaps still
    19        do) a project in being which attempted to recycle the
    20        polystyrene which had been used in your restaurants?
    21        A.  That is correct.
    22
    23   Q.   What is the status of that project at the moment?  Is it
    24        still alive, is it developed or is it dead?
    25        A.  The project is still running in five restaurants in the
    26        Manchester area.
    27
    28   Q.   It began, I think, some sometime in 1989, did it not?
    29        A.  1988, I think.
    30
    31   Q.   1988, sorry.
    32        A.  Yes.
    33
    34   Q.   1988.  It might be suggested that its growth rate since
    35        then has not been very great?
    36        A.  No, it has not.
    37
    38   Q.   I was going to ask you what the reasons for that were?
    39        A.  Okay.  It is very simple.  There was really, when we
    40        started the project, there was no infrastructure available
    41        to handle recycled materials.  At a later date, we
    42        persuaded Lin Pac to put in a recycling plant to handle
    43        polystyrene foam boxes.  That plant was established, is now
    44        operating but, frankly, it is only just financially viable
    45        even today.  I am sure -- I am not sure if Lin Pac are
    46        witnesses, but I am sure they would tell you exactly the
    47        same thing.
    48
    49        Until we can get the recycled boxes from our restaurants
    50        into a recycling plant and then reused again in a Lin Pac 
    51        factory to produce, say, insulation for refrigeration or 
    52        any other form of plastics, until we can do that, it is 
    53        really not going to be viable to switch the whole market on
    54        to recycling of polystyrene foam boxes.  When we can do
    55        that, of course, we will eventually close the loop
    56        completely from boxes in our restaurants to reuse in some
    57        other form in our restaurants.  The boxes recycled cannot
    58        be reused in our restaurants as food packaging, so they
    59        have to be used in some other form.
    60

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