Day 059 - 01 Dec 94 - Page 50


     
     1   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  No.  I was not pretending to have any
     2        knowledge of what amount of recycling, if any, went on so
     3        long ago.
     4
     5   MR. RAMPTON:  If in due course Mr. Bateman has to come to court,
     6        it is something that he might well know the answer to.
     7        What I am really concerned about obviously in this case,
     8        Mr. Oakley, is this, is whether it can fairly be said that
     9         -- I would like your response to this -- McDonald's use of
    10        recycled paper for its packaging was a late afterthought?
    11        A.  No, I do not think it was and it cannot fairly be
    12        said.  A lot of recycling was taking place in McDonald's
    13        with customer packaging and with transportation packaging
    14        pretty early on in the 80s and in some cases before.
    15
    16   Q.   The second question is this, to what extent, if any, was
    17        the move towards recycled content a consequence of
    18        McDonald's desire to create for itself what I might call a
    19        user-friendly image in the public mind?
    20        A.  I think that was a consideration without a doubt.  It
    21        certainly was not the prime mover but it was a
    22        consideration.
    23
    24   Q.   No.  What was the prime mover?
    25        A.  The prime mover to recycle?
    26
    27   Q.   Yes, to use recycled.
    28        A.  To use recycled material?  Was really the more virgin
    29        paper you use and pulp that you use, the less is available
    30        generally.  As supply and demand situation comes into play,
    31        if we all only ever used virgin paper, the supply would
    32        probably be greater than the demand and the price would
    33        rocket.  So, it is really a commercial consideration from
    34        that point of view.
    35
    36   Q.   Do you see any conflict between being environmentally
    37        friendly as a fact, being commercially interested in the
    38        sense of trying to preserve or keep down as far as you can
    39        the price of the material which you buy and, on the third
    40        hand (if we can have three hands), pleasing the customer's
    41        sense of an environmentally friendly package?  Do you see
    42        any conflict between those three strands?
    43        A.  No, I do not.
    44
    45   Q.   Can I move now -- you will be pleased to hear that this is
    46        my penultimate topic, Mr. Oakley; I shall deal with environment/index.html">litter
    47        very briefly at the end -- and deal now with the packaging
    48        which is not, as it were, put into the hand of a customer
    49        in the store, but that which is used to keep the product in
    50        the store and to get it there in the first place?  What is 
    51        the principal form of paper packaging which is used for 
    52        those two latter purposes? 
    53        A.  For transportation?
    54
    55   Q.   Yes, transportation and storage.
    56        A.  And storage, is an outer case which usually made from
    57        a corrugated cardboard.
    58
    59   Q.   Corrugated cardboard?
    60        A.  Yes.

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