Page 62 from: May 2013

62 May 2013

‘Since the last meeting a year ago, frame-work conditions for the German recov-
ered paper industry have deteriorated signifi-

cantly,’ announced Reinhold Schmidt, vice

president of the Federal Association for Sec-

ondary Raw Materials and Waste Management

(bvse) at its latest congress in Düsseldorf. His

main complaint was that the recently-imple-

mented Closed Substance Cycle Act has ‘unnec-

essarily laced our commercial paper collection

into a tight corset’.

The audience applauded Schmidt’s statement

that this new legislation does more than give

municipalities a larger role in recycling; it

renders them ‘extremely hostile’ competitors to

Germany’s existing recycling players. ‘Many

municipalities are even trying to prevent the

acceptance of recovered paper at our operating

locations – and in many cases, they have already

succeeded,’ he observed.

‘The change in legislation has pushed bvse

members out of the market owing to the now-

dramatic influence of municipalities,’ added

Lars Kossack, managing director of Thüringen

Recycling in Erfurt. Following enforcement of

the Act, he said, there no longer seemed to be

any understanding of the needs of the industry.

Dr Ulrich Höke, managing director of Stora

Enso Sachsen, agreed: ‘Paper recycling has

never been a cause for concern for Germany.

Before the interruption by the counties, it was

a well-organised sector. This goes to show that

outside parties should not be allowed to meddle

so much.’ Germany is essentially taking recy-

cling out of citizens’ hands, claimed Dr Höke.

‘Suddenly, they cannot take their material

where they want; instead, there are all kinds of

obligations and expectations,’ he said.

Cheers of support
These allegations were refuted by Dr Ralf Bleich-

er, councillor of the German County Association

(DLT). ‘It is too soon to reach a final verdict –

only time will tell whether the industry can learn

to live with it or not,’ he said. ‘I really doubt that

the bvse can say how this is going to end.’

‘Actually we can,’ interjected Kossack. ‘We cannot

learn to “live with it”, as you say. Our economy was

built by industry and the strenuous efforts made

by many businesses, not by county representatives

who dictate what should happen although they

know nothing about the market whatsoever.’

Again, cheers of support filled the room.

The required response is ‘evident’, argued

Schmidt, who advocated that the Act ‘must be

corrected urgently and soon’.

‘Fatally wrong’
At the same time, there was plenty of criticism

directed at the paper industry’s efforts to secure

its own supply of raw materials by influencing

the wider movement of goods. Schmidt com-

mented that the paper sector had opted for a

‘fatally wrong’ approach, born out of ‘a glaring

short-sightedness’ as it ‘completely disregards’

the fact that EU recovered paper collection vol-

umes exceed the quantity that can be used in

European paper mills by some 9 million tonnes

per year.

Without the ‘valve function’ of exports, this

‘gigantic permanent paper overhang’ in Europe

would lead to a collapse in paper proceeds, pre-

dicted Schmidt. In turn, this would undermine

investments in separate collection and sorting

systems while discrediting recovered paper

altogether, thus ‘playing into the hands of com-

bustion schemes’.

‘We can rise to the occasion’
According to keynote speaker Wolfgang

Bosbach, a member of the German Bundestag

and representative of the nation’s Christian

Democratic Union, Germans are ‘usually scepti-

cal in the face of innovation – wary more of the

possible risks than the potential success’. How-

ever, he added: ‘We should not be afraid of the

P a P e r r e c y c l i n g By Kirstin Linnenkoper

The paper market has experienced tumultuous times across the

globe, but particularly in Germany where new legislation has meant

that traditional recyclers are now confronted by an army of

‘extremely hostile’ competitors, it was suggested to nearly 600 del-

egates attending the bvse’s 16th International Recovered Paper

Conference in Düsseldorf. However, they were also assured of at

least one ‘reason to rejoice’.

The bvse members have been forced ‘into a tight corset’, urged
Reinhold Schmidt.

A kaleidoscopic view of paper
Battle lines drawn

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