German metal company Aluminium Rheinfelden said it will temporarily close a 20,000 metric ton a year aluminium recycling plant because of a collapse in supplies of used beverage cans following Germany's introduction of a deposit on drinks containers this year.
The plant in south Germany will stop operations at the end of March.
Aluminium Rheinfelden CEO Alois Franke said the company has suffered a huge reduction in the number of drinks cans it receives following the German government's introduction of the deposit on cans the first of this year.
Franke said several leading German retailers including Aldi and Lidl have removed many drinks in tins requiring deposits, especially beer, from their product range.
This and growing use of bottles has greatly reduced the volume of tins going into the Green Point national collection scheme for tins and other packaging to sent for recycling.
"We recycled 1,800 metric tons of used tin cans in 2002," Franke said. "This year supplies have collapsed because of the deposit. The plant needs to run 24 hours a day to be commercial. We cannot do this without the drinks cans."
About 40 jobs will be lost at the recycling plant. Aluminium Rheinfelden currently employs 330 people and has a wide range of other production.
Franke said the German government-promoted scheme to introduce a centralized system for collecting tin deposits from October 1, 2003, could help revive demand for tins as people should be able to take cans back to any shop and get the deposit. Reuters