Day 075 - 17 Jan 95 - Page 42
1
2 MR. MORRIS: "... that the foam is then collected for recycling
3 into such things as plant pots, coat hangers" ----
4
5 MR. JUSTICE BELL: "... and installation".
6
7 MR. MORRIS: "... for use in homes, even fillings for duvets".
8 Do you think such recycling schemes -- this was at four
9 restaurants out of 400?
10 A. Yes.
11
12 Q. At the time or something like that. What is your opinion
13 of such schemes?
14 A. Well, I would answer the question in two ways. It
15 seems to me it is entirely practical and sensible before
16 introducing something on a nationwide basis to do a pilot
17 scheme, that seems to me to be very sensible. I presume it
18 was sensible to do it in restaurants or a group of
19 restaurants that were typical rather than atypical.
20 I believe it is the sort of thing that members of the
21 general public, because recent research has shown that in
22 environmental terms the one kind of message that has been
23 understood is about the merits and benefits of recycling,
24 and if you can provide a simple and straightforward way of
25 ordinary people contributing to that sort of pre-selection
26 process, then that also is commendable.
27
28 I also believe that it makes very good sense to look at the
29 ultimate uses that can be found for materials that are
30 recycled, particularly where you recognise that in the case
31 of plastic each time they are recycled there will be a
32 degrading and, therefore, the uses to which they can be put
33 are progressively more and more limited.
34
35 Q. Do you think that such schemes serve as an example to
36 customers, even if they do not cover all the stores?
37 A. Yes, I think they do and I think that is a perfectly
38 sensible way of addressing or enquiring into and conducting
39 a controlled enquiry into whether or not it would work.
40
41 Q. What is the message that McDonald's is sending to their
42 customers nationally with that paragraph?
43 A. I think they are saying we use in the course of our
44 business materials that are capable of being recycled for
45 good purposes and that you can play your part in helping us
46 to do that.
47
48 Q. So how are those materials capable of being recycled?
49 A. Well, in the way they talk about in terms of being
50 recycled for purposes such as the creation of coat hangers,
51 insulation material, so on and so forth.
52
53 Q. If we go to the Defendants' witness statements -- is it the
54 light blue?
55
56 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Volume IB is your Recycling and Waste.
57
58 MR. MORRIS: It is the statement of Clay Harris.
59
60 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It is section C2. It is pale blue.
