Day 060 - 02 Dec 94 - Page 42


     
     1   MR. MORRIS:  How did your department then become aware of what
     2        was going on if it did not have a copy of the report?
     3        A.  We had information from the McDonald's Corporate
     4        Headquarters that they had gone into this arrangement with
     5        the Environmental Defence Fund.  It was purely an
     6        information document.  It was not a detailed document as
     7        you have here.
     8
     9   Q.   Is it true that it was considered a path making effort by
    10        McDonald's Corporation to work with the environmentalists
    11        in a practical way to look at practical things the company
    12        was doing; is that how it was conceived?
    13        A.  It was very much a needed course of action for the
    14        United States, yes.
    15
    16   Q.   Was it needed for the UK?
    17        A.  No.
    18
    19   Q.   Is that because there was any fundamental difference in the
    20        environmental implications of UK packaging?
    21        A.  Yes.
    22
    23   Q.   What are the fundamental differences between the UK and the
    24        US?
    25        A.  We do not have a landfill problem in the UK; they do in
    26        the US.
    27
    28   Q.   So the only concern in this was landfill, was it?
    29        A.  I think that was the main concern there.
    30
    31   Q.   You think so but you are not sure?
    32        A.  Well, I know it was the main concern was landfill in
    33        the US.
    34
    35   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  When was it that barge -- I saw its course
    36        plotted in a document yesterday -- set off from the island
    37        off New York and went all the way down to the Gulf, and had
    38        no success there and came all the way back again, which
    39        I remember reading about in the newspapers.  Can you
    40        remember which year that was?
    41        A.  No, I vaguely -----
    42
    43   Q.   Was that before this?
    44        A.  I do not know.
    45
    46   Q.   You cannot remember?
    47        A.  I vaguely remember the story.
    48
    49   Q.   We saw a map of it.  It maybe my eye fell it on it when
    50        I was trying to find another document yesterday. 
    51 
    52   MR. MORRIS:  So are you saying that the same apparent concern 
    53        about environmental consequences of packaging from the
    54        States are not relevant to this country because at the
    55        moment there is enough space in landfill?
    56        A.  In this particular instance, yes.
    57
    58   Q.   So, for example, concern that may have been expressed in
    59        here about chlorine bleaching, for example, of packaging
    60        would be an unimportant part of the US concern?

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