Day 009 - 08 Jul 94 - Page 49
1 America that was non-traditional, that is something that
would peak my interest because I would want to investigate
2 that and find if we could do that elsewhere around the
world.
3
Q. Are you aware there is a long tradition of fast food, say,
4 for example, in South American countries before McDonald's
started it?
5 A. I do not know. I have not been there yet and do not
know.
6
Q. Are you aware that when McDonald's developed in some
7 countries a lot of traditional store holders went out of
business ---
8 A. I am not aware of that.
9 Q. -- because of your influence? Just to move on to
forests: Why don't McDonald's have a policy on the use of
10 virgin paper, I mean on the source of virgin paper which
it uses, for example, as between using natural forests or
11 plantation forests?
A. The reason we do not have a policy on that is that the
12 science of that is still developing. It is quite --
I would call that quite an emerging issue over the last
13 probably two years, and very similar to other scientific
topics within this area. There is a fair amount of debate
14 going on within the scientific and environmental
community.
15
The way we look at it at McDonald's is we want to study
16 that issue thoroughly. We are in the middle of a very
intensive review process of our paper purchasing
17 practices. You heard me refer to the Environmental
Defence Fund partnership called the Paper Task Force, and
18 a big part of the work we are doing there is related to
the exact question you just asked: Should a company like
19 McDonald's have a policy of that nature? We started that
task force last August and we expect it to be done next
20 year. As a result of this task force, we will make
recommendations and changes as we finish our job.
21
Q. McDonald's is concerned about chlorine and bleaching in
22 its paper supplies; is that correct?
A. Yes. We are interested in minimising in any packaging
23 area, minimising not only the end product itself. So, for
instance, our carry-out bag used to be white, now it is
24 brown. Now the typical consumer does not realise how good
that was for the environment, that change to a brown bag,
25 but the change was not in the weight of the bag. We
reduced the chemicals needed to make the bag.
26
Q. Yes. When was that policy brought in?
27 A. That was part of our work with the Environmental
Defence Fund. The report that we published in April 1991
28 lays out a hierarchy, how we think about using bleaching
in our paper purchasing practices.
29
Q. Before that the paper used in your packaging, in general,
30 was bleached with chlorine, tended to be bleached with
chlorine?
