The Germany's drinks industry said this week it would not launch a new national recycling system by October as planned because it could not be sure of its legal position following recent comments from the European Commission.
The recycling system for non-refillable cans and bottles was expected to be launched by October 1 under a deal agreed by the drinks trade in January in response to deposit charges set by the government on bottles of beer, mineral water and soft drinks.
The BVE German food industry said in a statement that a recent letter from the EU Commission to Environment Minister Juergen Trittin had described the deposit system as a "disproportionate obstacle for intra-community trade" and said it violated European competition law.
It said it had decided to suspend work on the system and urged the government to abandon the current interim deposit system.
"Our experiences over the past five months have shown that the compulsory deposit on non-recyclable packaging has led to significant lost tax revenues and has cost thousands of jobs," BVE president Peter Traumann said in a statement.
"We share the concerns of unions and environmental associations that this trend will continue unless conditions change," he said.
The German Environment Ministry disputed the statement, saying the letter from the Commission had criticized the current interim system, not the deposit system as such.
The interim system, due to be replaced on October 1, was agreed to give the industry time to set up its deposit and return network. ReutersLatest from Recycling Today
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