Day 060 - 02 Dec 94 - Page 17
1 Q. But you make the policy that you want to -- you say that
2 you are interested in recycling, you have claimed that you
3 are interested in recycling some of your waste?
4 A. For non-food packaging, yes.
5
6 Q. You have said that Lin Pac at your behest, yes, opened a
7 recycling facility?
8 A. Right.
9
10 Q. For four of your restaurants in tests in 1992, I believe it
11 was. So, if they are going to be putting reasons to you
12 why they cannot do it, you are obviously going to be
13 looking into that in great depth, are you not, because it
14 will not be conforming to your stated policy objective?
15 A. If they are going to be putting reasons why they cannot
16 do what?
17
18 Q. They are not achieving this recycling, are they?
19 A. They said they were not ready to expand, certainly,
20 when I asked them to. I understand they nearly are ready
21 to expand today.
22
23 Q. When you wanted to change your packaging from CFCs back to
24 pentane, yes?
25 A. Yes.
26
27 Q. There was a bit of unhappiness from the suppliers, but the
28 pressure was on. You personally supervised that situation?
29 A. I did.
30
31 Q. Got everybody moving and, hey presto, despite extra money
32 that had to be spent, the packaging was changed?
33 A. Right.
34
35 Q. So, you do not know, from what you have said, exactly what
36 the problems are in this plant in Cheshire?
37 A. As I explained yesterday, the reason they did not
38 expand at the time I asked them to was, in fact, because so
39 much of the work that was carried out in the plant was
40 mechanical sorting of waste. They did not feel they could
41 cope with the vast volume of polystyrene packages we would
42 generate from 50 restaurants. They felt they needed more
43 experience to be able to automate that system.
44
45 Now, I understand, they are close to being able to automate
46 that system. Mr. Van Erp (who will be giving evidence next
47 week) works closely with Lin Pac and can probably update
48 you with more details of that; I would think almost
49 definitely could update you with more details.
50
51 Q. Your position is that this is a policy objective?
52 A. We would like this project to go forward, yes.
53
54 Q. So, if I put it to you that the Manchester recycling
55 operation and the Lin Pac efforts are another propaganda
56 show, so the company can splash itself across the press as
57 being concerned about recycling its waste, would you agree
58 with that?
59 A. No, of course not. Lin Pac would hardly make a huge
60 investment in a recycling plant for a propaganda show, as
