Day 010 - 11 Jul 94 - Page 40


     
     1                                                2.00 p.m.
 
     2   MR. MORRIS:  Yes.  Moving on to waste disposal:  Was there any
              concern about the sheer volume of McDonald's packaging?
     3        A.  We examined the waste disposal issue in order to
              determine to what degree McDonald's packaging contributed
     4        to solid waste problems.  And we observed various
              materials, various items, in the literature that we
     5        researched that would help us to identify that, what that
              volume was.
     6
              We derived a calculation of about 1.3 billion cubic feet
     7        of styrofoam, polystyrene foam, food packaging, and that
              is really the central aspect of the volume issue, that it
     8        was a needless package in that, as far as we could tell,
              this was the amount of waste associated with it by this
     9        source, McDonald's.
 
    10   Q.   Right.  Are there different ways of calculating the exact
              total volume?
    11        A.  I would imagine that there are a number of ways to
              calculate it.  We made our calculations based on the
    12        article in Modern Plastics magazine which referred to
              McDonald's use of 70 million pounds of the product in
    13        their manufacturing -- in the manufacturing.
 
    14   Q.   That 1.3 billion cubic feet, would that be the kind of
              volume that would end up in landfills and as environment/index.html">litter?  Is
    15        it a volume that would be off the factory line or would it
              be the later volume once it has been moulded into
    16        packaging?
              A.  It is a calculation of what the volume would be once
    17        it has been moulded into the packaging itself.
 
    18   Q.   Is polystyrene foam biodegradable?
              A.  I believe that the literature clearly states that
    19        polystyrene foam does not biodegrade.
 
    20   Q.   At all?
              A.  At all.
    21
         Q.   Just very briefly touching on the environment/index.html">litter issue, would you
    22        consider there are problems with non-biodegradable matter
              ending up as environment/index.html">litter?
    23        A.  Well, the lightness of a polystyrene foam packaging
              makes it likely to end up as environment/index.html">litter by virtue of the fact
    24        it is easy for the wind to pick it up and move it.  We did
              review material from organisations that were engaged in
    25        cleaning up environment/index.html">litter on beach fronts, and those
              organisations observed that foam, in general, was one of 
    26        the largest single constituents and that McDonald's foam 
              packages were identifiable in the material that they 
    27        picked up off beaches.  There is no specific
              characterisation of the amount of this material that ends
    28        up as environment/index.html">litter, but it is, I think, fairly clear that it is
              an issue.
    29
         Q.   Yes.  You just briefly mentioned earlier on about the US
    30        parks service banning the use of this kind of packaging.
              Was that part of their concern about the environment/index.html">litter?

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