Day 059 - 01 Dec 94 - Page 28
1 A. The arguments in favour of paper are that you generate
2 less waste, you do not need a specific polystyrene
3 recycling system and the cost of the packaging is lower.
4
5 Q. How much lower?
6 A. Oh!
7
8 Q. Roughly?
9 A. Probably, I cannot tell you exactly, but around
10 10 per cent of the cost of a foam package a wrap would be.
11
12 Q. A tenth of the cost?
13 A. Yes.
14
15 Q. Let me try to be systematic about it; what are the
16 arguments against the use of paper?
17 A. The arguments against using paper are that the product
18 is not as hot as if you had retained it in a foam package;
19 the product is not as fresh and the product is not as
20 presentable to the customer. If you are presented a
21 Big Mac in a wrap and you open the wrap, you will find that
22 the bun could be squashed or distorted, or the sauce is
23 coming out the side of the bun; whereas in foam package,
24 which is much more rigid, the presentation is far better.
25
26 Q. So, effectively, are those arguments in favour of
27 polystyrene foam even though it is very considerably more
28 expensive?
29 A. In this country, yes.
30
31 Q. Is there a problem so far as this country is concerned
32 about the disposal of polystyrene foam waste?
33 A. No. This is what I was referring to earlier. There is
34 not a landfill problem in the UK today. There is a
35 landfill problem in the US which is one of the main reasons
36 they decided to reduce the amount of packaging they were
37 using, but there is not a problem here in the UK.
38
39 Q. I am going to come other parts of Europe later on,
40 Mr. Oakley, but are there countries in Europe where
41 landfill disposal is perceived to be a problem?
42 A. Yes, Germany and Austria, in particular.
43
44 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It might just be interesting to know,
45 Mr. Rampton, what are the factors which lead to landfill
46 availability and problems? I know we have areas in this
47 country where an enormous amount of gravel has been
48 excavated. There was an article in the papers last week
49 about rubbish going down the Thames to somewhere called
50 Mudley or some appropriate name like that in Essex where it
51 was dumped. But why should we have more landfill sites
52 than, say, Austria or Germany?
53 A. I honestly do not know. I have certainly seen the
54 disused gravel pits that are used for landfill and I think
55 that is probably as good an answer as I could give but
56 specifically I do not know.
57
58 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Very well.
59
60 MR. RAMPTON: Is there any paper used in this country which
