Day 062 - 06 Dec 94 - Page 09
1
2 Q. Do you know whether there are any others amongst the people
3 that make polystyrene, or whatever, foam, for McDonald's?
4 A. Among other suppliers for McDonald's, no, there are
5 not.
6
7 Q. Have you visited the Lin Pac recycling plant in Cheshire?
8 A. I have visited the first stage of their recycling
9 plants, yes. They have opened in the beginning of this
10 year an expansion but I have not visited that yet.
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12 Q. Do they take only waste from McDonald's restaurants?
13 A. No, they do not.
14
15 Q. They will take it from anywhere, will they?
16 A. Within reason, yes.
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18 Q. When do you think that their expansion plant will be in
19 operation, the expansion to the plant, second stage?
20 A. It is in operation.
21
22 Q. It is, I am sorry.
23 A. It is in operation.
24
25 Q. I did not listen carefully enough. What sort of things can
26 they make?
27 A. They will make recyclates, regranulate. Basically,
28 their operation consists of a washing phase, a washing up.
29 They have a manual separating, sorting out operation. The
30 second stage is a grinding, washing stage in which they
31 separate different plastics out and then the third phase is
32 a drying and then a reextrusion into a granulate.
33
34 So, the end product of the Lin Pac recycling plant is
35 actually a regranulate which is comparable to a granulate
36 polystyrene as you will receive it from any of the large
37 polystyrene makers, only it is a recycled granulate.
38
39 Q. So what kind of uses can it be put to?
40 A. I have enquired with Lin Pac and it is actually put
41 into usage -- it is sold to general injection moulders that
42 make articles such as CD boxes, coat hangers, that sort of
43 thing.
44
45 Q. So far as paper is concerned, we have been told already in
46 this court that there are things called "de-inking plants"
47 which, effectively, clean the ink off used paper; is that
48 right?
49 A. Yes, that is correct.
50
51 Q. Is there a similar technique possible with polystyrene
52 which has been coloured?
53 A. Not to my knowledge. It is not used in the Lin Pac
54 recycling plant which is one of the reasons why you
55 generally tend to find this type of recyclate back in black
56 or greyish or articles where the colour is not very
57 important, as I said, things like a cassette box, video
58 cassette boxes or something like CD boxes.
59
60 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Could I just check one thing? You said that
