Day 011 - 12 Jul 94 - Page 05
1 air?
A. I would say that what is released in the gases is a
2 combination of all that is not left as residual ash, OK?
It is actually transferred into the air. It is
3 transferred, based on whatever degree it breaks down in
the burning process; obviously that is a matter of
4 contention here. The substances that are released are a
matter of contention. However, they are released into the
5 air.
6 Q. Quite a lot of the volume which is released on
incineration, without getting too technical, is what you
7 and I are breathing at this very moment?
A. I would hope not.
8
Q. I had understood from the evidence we had earlier that
9 quite a proportion of what is in the little bubbles in
foam -- correct me if I am wrong, Mr. Rampton -- it is not
10 just a blowing agent, it is what I will continue just to
call air.
11
MR. RAMPTON: That is right, is it not?
12 A. I am sorry?
13 Q. In the composition of polystyrene foam, a high proportion
is just air, as his Lordship calls it?
14 A. Well, air is a very general term.
15 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I know, that is why I said what we are
breathing now is pumped into the foam together with the
16 blowing agent and is held there in the foam?
A. OK. I have seen that ----
17
Q. Is that right or not?
18 A. I see them as different matters.
19 Q. So when you burn that?
A. When you burn polystyrene foam, the issue is not
20 whether or not what is in the package is mostly, as you
say, air, and only whatever percentage of that product is
21 another substance; the issue is what happens to the
material, the polystyrene material, when you burn it and
22 when you release it into the air.
23 Q. I am sticking on volume?
A. OK.
24
Q. Let me accept for the moment, without examining with any
25 particular care, that the actual polystyrene is by
incineration changed into something else and, therefore,
26 becomes some other form of gaseous matter?
A. Right, yes.
27
Q. There is still in that volume a significant proportion of
28 what I will continue to call air which does not fall into
the same category?
29 A. I am a little lost. The point of departure for this
was a question regarding -- well, maybe we have to go
30 back. I do not know what the original question was at
this point, but the way I understand the line of
