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?
