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Scholz Recycling GmbH

Scholz Recycling is a Germany based international company with more than 150 years of history in recycling industry, is one of the world’s most advanced recycling companies with a global footprint.

Lobbying Activity

Response to Updating the EU Emissions Trading System

19 Nov 2020

Recycling is a crucial part of the Circular Economy Action Plan and the European Green Deal. Establishing a even more effective circular economy and saving emissions also depends on the benefits of recycling. These emission saving benefits have to be considered within a EU ETS that is discussed to cover the waste sector as well. If the recycling industry has to pay for its emissions that is fair to be considered in one sector only and to take into account the beneficial of emission savings of recycled content as replacement for primary raw material. If the EU ETS is expanded to non-ETS sectors, recycling will be heavily effected not only by the logistic emissions, and the industrial emissions when using recycled content as source, but also as an own sector. This puts a burden on recycling without reflecting the positive and emission saving potential. Thus making recycling artificially more expansive and user not friendly. The German BDSV association (see attachment), together with the German fraunhofer IMWS have calculated a price or the emission saved by e.g. steel scrap. "For every ton of scrap used in the production of carbon steel, the steel industry saves an average of 1.67 tons of CO2 compared to production from ores. For austenitic stainless-steelscrap, this figure rises to 4.3 t CO2 per ton of scrap." Currently, the beneficial environmental impacts of using recycled materials in the production are reflected insufficiently in market prices. "As a result", the study says, "firms and consumers make inefficient decisions that result in welfare losses. For this reason, it seems economically recommendable to integrate the scrap bonus into the price mechanism. The internalization of the scrap bonus should be part of a European decarbonization strategy. The EU ETS is an instrument that alreadyreduces greenhouse gas emissionseffectively and efficiently. However, it seems recommendable to supplement the EU ETS with further measures as part ofa European decarbonization strategy. For example, accompanying measures could take into account the emissions resulting from the production of imported inputs and compensate for the competitive disadvantages of the European steel industry."
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Response to 2030 Climate Target Plan

7 Apr 2020

The EU's climate objectives can only be achieved if ambitious recycling targets are set, which must be accompanied by landfill bans in all Member States for combustible waste. In times of the corona crisis, massive measures will be taken, and this must also be possible in connection with the climate crisis, otherwise we will have an additional raw materials crisis in the future. It is high time that we also changed our approach to resource consumption, and a change in the use of raw materials is urgently needed. Global material consumption has tripled in recent decades and is expected to double in the next 40 years without intervention. Recycled materials cover only 12% of the EU material demand! High recycling rates for paper and glass - published by the statistical offices - conceal the still poor "reuse rates" across all material sectors. However, for reasons of security of supply, a genuine recycling system for all raw materials (metallic, mineral but also bio-based) must be introduced urgently. Especially the so-called "future technologies" groan under supply bottlenecks and fluctuating prices. Important raw materials, which are used for technologies such as energy efficiency or digitalisation, are not available in sufficient quantities at the current growth potential. The majority of products marketed in the EU today are mainly based on unsustainable and sub-optimal use of resources. Many products are short-lived, non-reusable and irreparable. This still leads to a high volume of waste in the EU. Annual increases of 5% have been recorded since 2010 alone. Much of the waste is not recycled, a considerable proportion is still landfilled (23 %) and is thus lost to the economic cycle. In addition, millions of tonnes of waste are exported, which also means that they are lost to the European recycling industry. Sales and market conditions for recycling raw materials urgently need to be improved. The public sector is in demand on several fronts. On the one hand, it must set an example for increased use, but also remove obstacles to reuse in the EU product, consumer and chemical regulations. It is hoped that the new Green Deal Action Plan and the Climate Plan 2030 will drive forward a policy for "sustainable products" in order to promote the design, production and marketing of sustainable products. Minimum requirements are planned to prevent environmentally harmful products from being placed on the EU market. Re-use and repair will also be prioritised over recycling.
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