Day 060 - 02 Dec 94 - Page 66
1 important environmental goal in itself, and when customers
2 buy a product and see that it is recycled, they believe
3 that means it has been returned by consumers to be used
4 again, recycled. In order not to deceive the public (which
5 in America, as you know, they have very strong laws on
6 advertising claims, well, I presume you know that) it has
7 to be specified so that the consumer does not get the wrong
8 impression. Would that be a fair summary?
9 A. What is your question?
10
11 Q. Of why it is important to distinguish.
12
13 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You do not know the answer?
14 A. I do not.
15
16 Q. What is being put is that if you say "80 per cent
17 recycled", a lot of ordinary people in the street would
18 mean this has been a paper bag, cardboard box, something
19 which has been used before; whereas, in fact, it may be
20 that it was wood chippings or off cuts of paper in a
21 paper-making factory or anything of that kind which never
22 got anywhere near a customer, and yet the ordinary person
23 in the street thinks the really laudable aim is to put back
24 into the system that which has had a consumer use, do you
25 see? You do not know whether that is so?
26 A. I do not, my Lord. I accept what you are saying.
27
28 Q. It might make some sense if that were the reason the
29 Americans want to distinguish?
30 A. I accept what you are saying, but I also gave a reason
31 earlier as to why we cannot put that kind of information on
32 our packaging. The reason I gave was the supplier could
33 not tell us with confidence without changing that message
34 constantly just how much post-industrial or post-consumer
35 recycled material there was in the package.
36
37 MR. MORRIS: So you have asked them, have you, to do that?
38 A. We have asked if they can do it, and they have said
39 they cannot do it with confidence and on a continuous
40 basis.
41
42 Q. Is the reason you asked them to say whether they could do
43 that is because you thought that was an important
44 distinction?
45 A. I think it made some sense, yes, if you can do it.
46
47 Q. If you turn to pink volume IV, yes, page 93 -- sorry, tab
48 5, and it is actually page 276 in the bundle.
49 A. Right.
50
51 Q. You will see in the labelling "Recycled Products" under B,
52 it says: "The Task Force agreed that in some cases
53 McDonald's should label its packaging to explain
54 environmentally orientated changes to customers in a
55 straightforward and accurate manner. Generally, McDonald's
56 will not label an item as 'recyclable' unless it has been
57 recycled in the McDonald's system or can be recycled in
58 local programmes extensively across the United States."
59 That seems to link up with that Advertising Standards
60 Authority rule we heard yesterday; is that correct?
