Day 292 - 01 Nov 96 - Page 21
1
2 While I am on this document I might as well read out the
3 other bits of the document so I do not have to go back to
4 it. The impression of that is, first of all, that they
5 agreeing with those concerns by re-evaluating their paper
6 packaging use, and then they try to justify the use of
7 Polystyrene as a result, implying that the damage to
8 forests and causing water pollution and the high use of
9 energy involved in manufacturing paper would be reduced if
10 they moved on to Polystyrene foam packaging. "Foam
11 packaging is more energy and resource efficient to produce
12 than paper or cardboard. By contrast the manufacturer of
13 paper required" -- and I emphasise 'required' -- "the
14 destruction of trees and can pollute water".
15
16 We say that is an admission in June 1990, which is felt to
17 be a very relevant time. "The foam packaging used by
18 McDonald's is completely CFC free" -- that is in that
19 country, not in other countries if you include HCFCs - this
20 is a UK document. "It is re-cycleable" -- which it is not,
21 that is deceptive. In fact, in America,, as we have heard,
22 they would not be allowed to claim that in a public
23 document such as this, certainly not in advertising. In
24 fact, while I am on the subject, as we know, they were
25 admonished, or whatever the word is, the advert that was
26 used by McDonald's was banned or withdrawn, but claimed
27 that their packaging was re-cycleable when they were not
28 recycling it, and that was in this country.
29
30 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Is that the one that has bits about what is
31 can be recycled as?
32
33 MR. MORRIS: No, this is a different one. This is 'Packaging,
34 the facts', the other one is 'Recycling, the facts'. It
35 then says about "in favour of the foam packaging, it does
36 not give out toxic emissions". "It should be noted that
37 had non-biodegradable matter aids decomposition in
38 landfills by forming air pockets vital to the degradation
39 process." You could say that is an admission that because
40 it does not biodegrade and forms air pockets is therefore
41 contributing more greatly to the filling up of landfills
42 and the sheer volume of landfills which are a problem all
43 over the country. People do not like landfills, and there
44 is no reason why waste that is not necessary should end up
45 in landfills, in particular non-biodegradable waste which
46 would be there presumably for a million years littering our
47 planet with junk.
48
49 So that was not the exact document which I was referring to
50 before which actually made the statement that they
51 recognised the damaging effects of Polystyrene in America,
52 it was an American document, which I will come to, but what
53 I am trying to say is that they-----
54
55 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You were on forests and hence got you to
56 paper, and then you read the rest while you were there.
57
58 MR. MORRIS: Yes, that is true, that is true, I side tracked.
59 Forests. So McDonald's have accepted in mass produced
60 public literature that paper production is damaging to the
