European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 1, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Cover Story making Metal shake rattle and Recycle sinister looking metallic claws grabbed junked cars As if they were toys and deftly placed them into what looked like a giant Metal Venus Fly trap. When the trap shut the cars began what would be their last ride. Somewhere in the seemingly diabolical machine a a conglomeration of Metal structures pipes and conveyor belts a the cars were Tom to shreds. Glass plastic and rubber wore separated from the cars Metal. The cars ended their journey As Small pieces of shredded steel that fell from a conveyor Belt onto a growing pile of scrap. What were once the latest in automotive technology were now pieces of Metal no larger than hubcaps. Every once in a while an intact Spring that used to be confined inside an automobile engine would fall onto the pile Bounce Down to the Concrete and Roll away. Most looked like pieces of Meta ii paper that had been scrunched up and thrown away. But nothing in the pile would be thrown away. It would be shipped to steel Mills and foundries where the scraps would be smelted and m3de-into new products. The machine appropriately called a shredder is one example of How High tech and specialized recycling has become said Siegfried Preuer whose company operates a shredder in Wurzburg Germany. Preu cry a firm is a family operation that uses ultramodern machines in the age old scrap Metal business. Quot its nothing new to us a he said about recycling. A but now we have the machinery to do  and Rhough he admits a business can survive Only by making a profit Preuer said his company and others like it ultimately help reduce the amount of garbage going into Germany a landfills As Well As Aid the country a recycling efforts. Metals Are the ultimate recycling material Preuer said. Other materials such As Wood paper and plastic May not always be of the same Quality after they Are recycled. Quot with ferrous and non ferrous metals you have always the same Quality. Not with plastic and  paper for example can Only be recycled six or seven times before its fibres become too Short to hold together. Quot ferrous and non ferrous metals Are always recyclable Quot he said. Although he believes recycling is a Good idea he said some materials like plastic Are More expensive to Recycle than they Are to Burn at incinerator plants which generate Power and heat. With machines like the shredder Metal can be processed and melted Down to make new products shift flowing Down the rate at which landfills Are filled Preuer said. Quot in the late �?T60s and Early 70s, most people put their old cars in the  people Are paid to bring their junked cars to the shredder and the Metal components Are melted Down to be used again. But the shredder which can also Chew up separate and spit out things like old washing machines is a lightweight compared to Preuer a other mechanical Marvel. Housed in a massive Metal Structure in the Preuer Complex is a recycling machine like no other in the world. Figuratively speaking it turns garbage into Gold. Preuer a company designed the Mammoth machine which is operated by one Man. It is fed a mixture of materials ranging from paper and plastic to aluminium and tin cans called municipal scrap. The tin cans Are extracted from the rest of the refuse cleaned and compressed into 395-Pound Square blocks of pure tin. Each Block contains 5,286 cans Preuer said and close to 200 million cans were processed in 1991. Quot we can do about 200 to 240 tons per Day. With amp amps John Mil tar this shredder separates Glass plaque and rubber from cars after which the Metal goes to steel Mills. About 200 working Days a year that adds up to 48,000 tons per  other metals separated out from the cans in the machine Are further separated and recycled As Well he said. Of the 35 tons of scrap put into the machine at a time 30 tons Are recycled. What a left confetti sized pieces of pure garbage is burned at Wurzburg a incinerator plants which produce electricity and heat. Preuer said his company allows Wurzburg to feed his monster machine garbage for free and even processes scrap Metal found in the ashes of other refuse burned at the incinerator , commissaries enter land Battle a revolutionary German Law designed to slow the nations trash generation is Likely to change the Way the . Military Exchange and commissary systems do business. The eight month old Law requires producers and distributors to take Back All transport packaging As of dec. 1. Such packaging includes pallets crates Cartons shrink wrap plastic and other materials used to bundle and protect goods during shipment to the marketplace. Industries use about 2 million tons of disposable transport packaging each year in the states that comprised the former West Germany according to the German environment ministry. The government is trying to get firms to produce and use reusable transport packaging instead the ministry said a second phase of the Law obliges sales outlets to accept and Recycle starting april 1, any retail packaging that Consumers choose to return. Finally merchants do the same with returned wholesale packaging As of Jan. 1,1993. A it was our own idea Quot Preuer said about the tin can machine. The company was designing the recycling machine three years before bavarian politicians began talking about the mandatory recycling Laws currently in effect in the state. The machine was up and producing tin cubes six months before the Laws were passed last year he said. Preuer did no to explain exactly How the tin can machine worked its miracles saying Only that a it has several different  he did say that when it comes to recycling Quot if you have the right machine its no  John Millar a amp John Millar recycling has become a pressing Issue. Even though the Law technically does not apply to . Forces activities both american policy and necessity require them to comply with it the army and the air Force have concluded. In a nov. 21 memorandum the  air Force Europe staff judge advocates office noted that private contractors haul most packaging waste from . Military installations. Those contractors will be entitled to re negotiate contracts and refuse to haul such packaging now that municipal landfills no longer will accept it from business and Industry the memorandum said. Also executive orders require . Federal agencies to comply with Host nation environmental Laws and to initiate new programs to Recycle their wastes according to the air Force lawyers. The lawyers recommended that the army air Force Exchange service and the defense commissary Agency european Region study the possibility of obtaining licensing to take part in the recycling system. The system is called Dulles system deutschland which a group of German industries set up to make compliance with the Laws retail packaging provisions easier. The industries in the group print on their disposable packaging a circular Symbol called a Der Grune punkt the Green Dot. Consumers can dispose of such packaging by depositing it in special yellow bins distributed around the country. Military commissaries have been recycling wooden pallets and cardboard boxes for years said Denise Gomes spokeswoman for the defense commissary Agency european Region. Recycling cardboard has become expensive because the Agency has to pay a fee to have it collected. But Gomes said she does no to know yet How the German Law will affect commissary operations. Quot we Are aware of it. We Are awaiting Legal interpretation however Quot she said. Cafes intends to comply with the new Law on each military installation by working with the authority responsible for environmental matters normally the director of engineering and housing cafes spokesman army it col. Joe Cato said. The organization already has placed dumpsters in front of each Exchange so customers can return packaging he said but installation authorities Are responsible for disposal of it. Joseph Owen Page 6 sunday March 1, 1992