Day 005 - 04 Jul 94 - Page 42


     
     1
         Q.   So is your position that McDonald's is not responsible for
     2        environment/index.html">litter on the streets of this country?
              A.  I am responsible to put in place systems and
     3        procedures which speak to the law, No.1, providing
              receptacles, providing people, providing education to the
     4        citizens of the country as to their social responsibility;
              I do all three.
     5
         Q.   But you are not responsible for the actual environment/index.html">litter itself
     6        when it is dropped on the floor?  You do not have any
              obligations in that respect?
     7        A.  But I think if someone drops something in front of my
              premises or within a reasonable distance, we have an
     8        obligation under the law to pick it up.  We do.  If
              someone buys something in a McDonald's restaurant or a
     9        tobacconist and drives five miles away and chooses to roll
              down the car window and throw it out on to the
    10        countryside, I do not But I think I am responsible in any
              way, shape or form.
    11
         Q.   Do you think you are responsible under the law or
    12        otherwise; you say you are responsible under the law in
              terms of picking up the environment/index.html">litter near your premises, but for
    13        in-store recycling or depositing of that environment/index.html">litter, do you
              think you have an obligation for people to deposit that
    14        environment/index.html">litter in your store?
              A.  I am sorry?  Say that again?
    15
         Q.   Do you feel you have an obligation to prevent, as far as
    16        possible, the environment/index.html">litter that would otherwise be dropped on
              the street from not going out of the door, as far as
    17        possible, in your restaurants?
              A.  Yes -- and we do.  There is not a McDonald's
    18        restaurant in the world that does not contain internal
              waste receptacles or staff who either police after tables
    19        and floors that need cleaning or provide receptacles for
              people themselves to deposit their waste in -- all 14,500
    20        of them do that.
 
    21   Q.   Do you think that you have a responsibility to not create
              packaging that could be thrown away?
    22        A.  But I think we have a social responsibility to be
              sensible about how we package our goods, how we use the
    23        world's resources, and But I think we are.  When all the
              studies come forth that compare what systems could be used
    24        and the choice absolutely has to be made, the facts come
              down resoundingly on the side of the McDonald's system.
    25
         Q.   But is it true, for whatever reason, maybe, as you said, 
    26        it is the responsibility of the individual, that a large 
              amount of McDonald's packaging ends up on the streets of 
    27        this country?
              A.  What do you mean by a large amount?  Does a cup find
    28        its way on the pavement?  Surely .
 
    29   Q.   I have seen the figure, for example, which we can dispute
              or not dispute -- it does not matter; if we dispute it we
    30        can check the document -- it is generation of over 100,000
              tonnes of packaging waste.

Prev Next Index