Day 062 - 06 Dec 94 - Page 11

     
     1   Q.   Just before I leave the polystyrene foam, Mr. Van Erp, and
     2        move on to paper, I wonder if you would mind getting from
     3        the shelf behind you a pink spined file with IV on it
     4        called Recycling and Waste?
     5        A.  Yes.
     6
     7   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Are you clear in your mind when the first
     8        recycled polystyrene -- I am sorry to be so tiresome about
     9        this -- the first actual recycled plastic came out at the
    10        end, Mr. Rampton?
    11
    12   MR. RAMPTON:  No, I am not.  If your Lordship would like to
    13        pursue it?
    14
    15   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.  Can you actually say or not when
    16        something came out which went off to a coat hanger
    17        manufacturer or plant pot manufacturer, or whatever it may
    18        be, to an extrusion moulder?  If you cannot be precise ---
    19        I cannot be precise.
    20
    Q.   -- but can give some kind of bracket, give that at least.
    22        A.  As I said, I cannot be precise.  It happened before the
    23        plant officially opened.
    24
    25   Q.   When did it officially open?  Is that your late 1992/early
    26        1993 or more recent than that?
    27        A.  Oh, no, that was -- that one, either that or older.
    28        I am just not sure from my memory.  I have got a January in
    29        my head but I do not know, to be honest.  It could have
    30        been January 1993.  It seems to be in my mind but I do not
    31        know.
    32
    33   MR. RAMPTON:  Mr. Oakley's statement says January 1992; it was
    34        officially by Baroness Denton?
    35        A.  I have a January in my head but I did not know whether
    36        it was 1992 or 1993.
    37
    38   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  So by the time it had officially opened, let
    39        us suppose for the moment, January 1992, it was producing
    40        recycled plastic for reuse?
         A.  To be sold.
    42
    43   Q.   To be sold for?
    44        A.  Yes, the problem that they had in the beginning was
    45        because of the fact at that time prices of virgin material
    46        were so low that it was very difficult to sell the
    47        recyclates.  At this point in time the situation has
    48        changed quite dramatically.
    49
    50   Q.   Yes, I had not thought of that angle. 
    51        A.  Therefore, the whole operation has picked up 
    52        considerably. 
    53
    54   MR. RAMPTON:  I had not thought about it either, Mr. Van Erp.
    55        Is polystyrene, well, raw polystyrene, if that is what it
    56        is, a commodity that is traded in some way?
    57        A.  Yes.
    58
    59   Q.   So do the prices, as it were, go more or less broadly the
    60        same all over Europe at any one time?