Day 246 - 09 May 96 - Page 58
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2 Q. That is correct.
3 A. OK.
4
5 Q. If you look on the right-hand side of that page it says
6 "with the hard reality of today's decreasing land-fill
7 space" -- this is in America -- "recycling has become a
8 vital part of effective waste management because it
9 provides another way of eliminating another item of solid
10 waste extreme, what may not be commonly known is that
11 polystyrene foam packaging is a 100 per cent recyclable.
12 In fact, it is the only over-the-counter food package that
13 is currently being recycled". This is in the USA, and then
14 it goes down the page and it says in the next paragraph,
15 "McDonald's launched the largest ever polystyrene
16 recycling programme in 1989 involving more than 450 of our
17 restaurants in the New England area", etcetera. Do you
18 know what happened to the polystyrene recycling programme
19 in the USA? I think Mr. Langdon or Mr. Beavers has told us
20 that only ten restaurants out of 10,000 were now recycling
21 products?
22 A. I do not know, I am not familiar with what they
23 currently do in the US with this project.
24
25 Q. Right. We can put that away. Thank you very much. What
26 do you know about the dispute in Kassel, Germany, over the
27 tax brought in on disposable McDonald's packaging -- well,
28 on all disposable packaging?
29 A. I have no German responsibilities.
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31 MR. RAMPTON: It has not even been proved. The witness that was
32 called by the Defendants, my Lord, to deal with that topic
33 distinctly accepted in cross-examination that she had no
34 direct evidence or knowledge of it.
35
36 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think Mr. Morris is hoping that Mr. Preston
37 might.
38
39 MR. MORRIS: Yes. I mean, it says us having to call or get a
40 Civil Evidence Act notice from the witness in Germany about
41 the issue. I am sure McDonald's have monitored the
42 situation.
43
44 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Do you know about Kassel, taxes, waste
45 disposal there?
46 A. No, Germany in general has been enacting -- some of the
47 communities have been attempting to enact taxation laws on
48 packaging. As to Kassel specifically, what they have done,
49 how much, where, who did it, what it is supposed to affect,
50 I do not know. I am sorry. That is not a new phenomena in
51 Germany.
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53 MR. MORRIS: So, local authorities in Germany, some of them,
54 have been enacting a taxation on disposable packaging which
55 affects McDonald's restaurants, it applies to McDonald's
56 restaurants and others?
57 A. It applies, yes, unless they have got a waiver of some
58 kind, but again I cannot comment on it, I do not know the
59 details.
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