German Recycling Group Refutes Claims over ELV Dismantling Delays

In a sharply worded response to claims that the German recycling industry has failed to quickly shred end-of-life vehicles, the German recycling association Bundesverband Sekundarrohstoffe und Entsorgung e.V. (bvse), says that while two million vehicles were collected to be destroyed in the country, the processing capacity of German recyclers is only around 500,000 vehicles per year, causing a backlog of material on the market.

In an editorial posted on its Web site, the bvse says that while not all the vehicles have been scrapped, already between 60 percent- 70 percent of the vehicles have been dismantled and shredded. A quota, the association notes, indicates that German recyclers have “bent over backward” to work through the vehicle inventory.

Jörg Lacher, a bvse spokesman, called “absurd” that media speculation that the reason that not all wrecks were recovered lies in the intention to set aside old vehicles by the year 2014 to store, since then the vehicle data from the Federal deleted Economics and Export Control (Bafa), would allow them and then re-sell as a used car again.

"This is plain nonsense. The old vehicles are to be recovered quickly and properly," Lacher added. That not all wrecks are recovered was due to the limited capacity.