Since the early 1990s....recycling of paper has been mandatory in Germany. When briefed on the mandatory nature of this (I had returned to Germany, and the Bitburg Base recycling 'chief' was explaining this detail)....the question came up about 'where' the recycling paper was going.
The German paused for a good 20 seconds, and then kinda said....he wasn't sure, but it seemed to all be trucked 'north' (which he meant in some way to be shipped out of Germany). None of this made sense to me.
Over the years, I've come to read on various occasions that there was this bulk shipment deal going on. A freighter would arrive daily in Bremen or Hamburg, and take on thousands of tons.....going to China, and be reused there in some capacity.
Well....it came up in the past couple of months....this movement of waste-paper is finished. The Chinese no longer want it.
So it's interesting what has transpired.
Because there was money flow going on.....you (the private German) didn't have to pay for waste disposal of paper. Your garbage cost was affected by the Chinese relationship.
Now? Virtually everyone is getting a little notice of the monthly or yearly garbage fee going up. The cost differing from community to community? Yes.
Re-use still going on? No one is really saying that. You almost get the impression that the Germans can't find any real use for recycled paper. The odds that it'll be still be buried somewhere? Well....it's best not to suggest that.
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