It’s the story mainstream media never picked up but spread like wildfire on the Pinoy blogosphere - songwriter Gary Granada publicly calling the executives of McDonald’s Philippines ‘rich young rulers’ whose

‘ bloated bright brains must have taken up the space that was meant for their ears.’
McDo speaks to ONE PHILIPPINES
about the issue.

IN Metro Manila, McDonald’s has become comfort food to some and quick hunger buster to others. Those yellow and red arches, golden arches as the company refers to them, towering over the city’s streets are a sign help is just a block away when hunger strikes. Why, almost every corner in this country has McDo. A meal is ready in seconds. The harried eater can be done in less than five minutes and be off.

The convenience far outweighs nutrition, obviously, since most people have labeled fast foods as junk food. Never mind the buns and patties—they might tide you over for a few hours till hunger pangs strike again. But the Styrofoam container in which they come in is another matter. Not only can this material make you sick in the long run, it can bury this planet under a gigantic pile of non-biodegradable rubbish. Greenpeace recently measured waste in the Manila Bay at over 60 percent Styrofoam.

My little research told me Styrofoam is a trademark name of extruded polystyrene thermal insulation. Polystyrene comes from styrene, a by-product of petroleum.

It contains chemicals that when continuously exposed to them even in small amounts can build up in the body and cause serious health issues. One study of human fat biopsies found styrene residues in every single sample. And the hotter or fattier the food, the more styrene it absorbs. Styrene therefore migrates to your food. Readers of my blog (www.sadulangnideedee.wordpress.com) told me how this piece of information scared them.

“ We’ve stopped eating McDo,” they told me. Surprising that I have blogged about this issue only once and my readers were quick to make this decision. My blog must have made a two-way effect: the Styrofoam health effects and the McDonald’s arrogance, the story of which follows.

McDonald’s snubs
Walang Istyrofoam advocates

It took one singer/songwriter to stir the executive pots over at McDonald’s Manila office. Gary Granada and the rest of the volunteers of the Kaalagad Katipunang Kristiyano (KaalagaD), a group of advocates comprising a community that promotes pluralism, equity, biodiversity and communitarian socialism and ethic, created quite a noise after an incident took place in the executive offices of McDonald’s.
KaalagaD’s WAIS (Walang Istyrofoam) Day launched on October 6 last year included a dialogue with McDonald’s, a request of which was made with the company about three weeks earlier. The agenda of the dialogue: the content of the petition letter of KaalagaD on the phase-out of the use of Styrofoam by McDonald’s.

Parts of the petition said: “We demand that McDonald’s publicly commit itself to the reduction of disposable plastic and Styrofoam! Profits can never come first and at the expense of the environment! We believe that for McDonald’s, a 50% reduction of use for the first year starting 2007, an 80% reduction of use of the 2nd year and total non-use for the 3rd is a reasonable target.”

The petition also said that KaalagaD is particularly aware of and is disappointed by the “callous and continued use of McDonald’s of these materials.” It also pointed out that they were unlike their competitor, Jollibee Corporation with whom KaalagaD also had a dialogue in 2000. Since then, Jollibee has reduced their usage of these environmentally harmful materials.

The dialogue did not take place that day. Gary wrote an account of what he called “My Personal Ordeal with the Arrogant Managers of McDonald’s” on his website (http://garygranada.com). “It occurred to me that there were far more basic issues that plague McDonald’s than Styrofoam,” Gary wrote. “Like common courtesy. So I explained to these rich young rulers that the courteous thing to do was to go down, greet the delegation and ask how they may be of help. I even asked them where they were schooled, because in the public school in an obscure town where I came from, they manage to teach such things in Grade One. Their bloated bright brains must have taken up the space that was meant for their ears. It felt like talking to an electric fan.”

Walang Istyrofoam snubs
McDo overture

This display of arrogance prompted KaalagaD to write McDonald’s president the week later, expressing their dismay and indignation at the unprofessional way the latter’s staff ignored their inquiries and communications.

“ We strongly criticize your company’s refusal to even dialogue with us regarding a serious environmental issue which McDonald’s in some other countries like the U.S.A. have recognized and started to respond to,” the letter said.

McDonald’s responded a week later through their communications agency, inviting Gary to a dialogue and saying McDonald’s would like to formalize their commitment to KaalagaD’s cause. This correspondence infuriated Gary even more and wrote on his website an entry entitled “McDonald’s hires PR agency to invite Fr. Ben Moraleda and Gary Granada.” In it, he strongly expressing his disgust over a letter that did not even mention the way the managers treated KaalagaD that unfortunate day of October 6. It was as if nothing happened, Gary said.

A letter, this time addressed to Gary, was sent by McDonald’s president, Kenneth Yang, a few days later. The letter told Gary that McDonald’s vice president for marketing will be in the dialogue. “In the spirit of such a dialogue, it is our hope that all publicity may now be put to rest,” Yang said in his letter.

but none of the mainstream media picked it up.

While KaalagaD agreed to the dialogue, it did not happen until three weeks later as the two parties could not reach an agreement of the framework of such a dialogue. Yolly Esguerra, executive officer of KaalagaD told me McDonald’s is very vague and non-committal. She said their response to the framework they proposed was very simplistic.

While the request for the dialogue was not aimed at creating conflict, the avoidance the executives displayed that October 6 did just that. It was precisely aimed so both parties could listen to what the other had to say. But it did not happen until over a month.

The dialogue finally took place on November 17. In a copy of the minutes of the meeting furnished by KaalagaD, McDonald’s, through its representatives, raised three issues which KaalagaD considered flimsy. Operational, lack of alternative packaging, and quality control issues were cited as reasons why McDonald’s could not commit to a phase-out program.

The minutes said McDonald’s had done research on the use of baskets or re-usable plates before coming out in the market. “They couldn’t find an alternative packaging within the standards of McDonald’s,” the minutes said. However, it said, in 2002, McDonald’s started using cartons (dine-in and to-go) and re-usable baskets (dine-in) for their Chicken McDo.

Non-committal

It’s all in the air, according to Esguerra, as the vice president for marketing who was present in the dialogue could not commit as of that meeting. She was just there to listen to KaalagaD and then report to her bosses what had transpired in the meeting.

Esguerra added that the marketing executive said “she will need more information about the issue and become an internal advocate at McDonalds.” She even asked us to email her informational-educational materials or powerful images on the issue,” Esguerra said.

KaalagaD’s minutes of that meeting showed a promise made by McDonald’s to advise the former of their plan of action not later than January 2007.

“ It’s January 3, and we have not received any communication from them,” Esguerra said. Even a copy of their own transcription of the dialogue has not reached us while they promised, during the dialogue, to do so as soon as possible,” Esguerra said.

“ They [McDonald’s] are non-committal,” Gary said in a text message to my inquiry on the status of their petition.

KaalagaD’s objective has not been met as of this writing—that of getting a commitment to a specific Styrofoam phase-out program which would they expected would come out of that dialogue.

In the meantime, food served in McDonald’s—spaghetti, pancakes, longganisa breakfast meals, etc. – still comes in hazardous Styrofoam. Spaghetti, by the way, is served only the Philippines, according to Torres.

Did you know that Dow Chemical Company invented Styrofoam more than fifty years ago for wartime applications? Knowing that the material possessed superior insulating properties, buoyancy and “unsinkability,” it was originally adopted for use in a six-man life raft in 1942 and started many other wartime applications.

It is revealing to know that the Dow Styrofoam today is used in building materials, pipe insulation and floral and craft products—not for food products.

Next time you drink coffee, use a paper, ceramic (lead-free, of course), or glass cup. Next time you buy food, get them in paper packages. Or, bring your own plates as we did in the early days when Styrofoam was intended only for saving lives at sea.

Deedee Santa Cruz-Espina is a communications specialist who maintains the blog, “Sa Dulang ni Deedee” at www.sadulangnideedee.wordpress.com.