Day 009 - 08 Jul 94 - Page 49


     
     1        America that was non-traditional, that is something that
              would peak my interest because I would want to investigate
     2        that and find if we could do that elsewhere around the
              world.
     3
         Q.   Are you aware there is a long tradition of fast food, say,
     4        for example, in South American countries before McDonald's
              started it?
     5        A.  I do not know.  I have not been there yet and do not
              know.
     6
         Q.   Are you aware that when McDonald's developed in some
     7        countries a lot of traditional store holders went out of
              business ---
     8        A.  I am not aware of that.
 
     9   Q.   -- because of your influence?  Just to move on to
              forests:  Why don't McDonald's have a policy on the use of
    10        virgin paper, I mean on the source of virgin paper which
              it uses, for example, as between using natural forests or
    11        plantation forests?
              A.  The reason we do not have a policy on that is that the
    12        science of that is still developing.  It is quite --
              I would call that quite an emerging issue over the last
    13        probably two years, and very similar to other scientific
              topics within this area.  There is a fair amount of debate
    14        going on within the scientific and environmental
              community.
    15
              The way we look at it at McDonald's is we want to study
    16        that issue thoroughly.  We are in the middle of a very
              intensive review process of our paper purchasing
    17        practices.  You heard me refer to the Environmental
              Defence Fund partnership called the Paper Task Force, and
    18        a big part of the work we are doing there is related to
              the exact question you just asked:  Should a company like
    19        McDonald's have a policy of that nature?  We started that
              task force last August and we expect it to be done next
    20        year.  As a result of this task force, we will make
              recommendations and changes as we finish our job.
    21
         Q.   McDonald's is concerned about chlorine and bleaching in
    22        its paper supplies; is that correct?
              A.  Yes.  We are interested in minimising in any packaging
    23        area, minimising not only the end product itself.  So, for
              instance, our carry-out bag used to be white, now it is
    24        brown.  Now the typical consumer does not realise how good
              that was for the environment, that change to a brown bag,
    25        but the change was not in the weight of the bag.  We
              reduced the chemicals needed to make the bag. 
    26 
         Q.   Yes.  When was that policy brought in? 
    27        A.  That was part of our work with the Environmental
              Defence Fund.  The report that we published in April 1991
    28        lays out a hierarchy, how we think about using bleaching
              in our paper purchasing practices.
    29
         Q.   Before that the paper used in your packaging, in general,
    30        was bleached with chlorine, tended to be bleached with
              chlorine?

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