German ferrous scrap recycling companies project a decline in turnover of around 10 per cent for the current 2013 calendar year. Compared with 2012, processed volumes had decreased by an average of 5 per cent, which had resulted in very cautious investing and modest cutbacks in personnel, the Federation of German Steel Recyclers and Waste Management Companies (BDSV) reported at its annual meeting. The data were obtained through a survey of the association's members on the economic climate.
Some 21 per cent of the companies participating in the survey expected business to improve in the coming year, according to the BDSV. However, they also said they were burdened by excessive environmental regulation and the restrictive rules of Germany's central recycling law, the Closed Substance Cycle and Waste Management Act. The association's president Heiner Gröger called for regulatory relief for private-sector companies collect-ing recyclable waste from households.