Shedding the "rag and bone" horse-cart image of the past, the country's scrap metal recyling companies, as they prefer to be known, have a turnover topping one billion pounds ($1.65 billion) and recycle 9.5 million tonnes of iron and steel each year, said Pat Neenan of the British Metals Federation (BMF).

A vital part of the recycling chain, they ensure items such as batteries are removed from old cars and sent to Britain's two lead smelters for feedstock, rather than ending up in the environment.

Over the last two years, mergers and acquisitions have seen smaller merchants gobbled up by larger companies with small family firms giving way to international outfits.

One large trading house in the north of England calls this trend "the supermarket syndrome."

Staff from the acquiredcompanies are retained, but the yards are closed creating super sites, which are inspected and approved by environmental authorities.

A world apart from steptoe

It is a far cry from the piles of rusting cars and battered fridges sitting in pools of leaked oil which distinguished scrap yards in the past. The scrap is broken down as it enters the site and is neatly sorted by metal and size into clearly marked sections.

The industry dislikes being associated with "muck and brass" and this is linked to a case being contested in the UK's high court over whether or not scrap metal is "waste" and so subject to tough environmental legislation on waste disposal.

The BMF is pitted against Britain's environment agency in the case as it argues that scrap metal is a vital secondary raw material.

Robert Voss president of the European non-ferrous recycling organisation, Eurometrec, and a scrap trader for twenty years, said only efficiently run and environmentally sound firms will see in the newmillennium.

He said market conditions for the scrap industry were the worst for 30 years, but added this was a cleansing experience, "sorting the men from the boys."In early November, Birmingham-based scrap traders, B.A.Taylor (Metals) Ltd, closed after 45 years in the business, one of a growing number of family firms who have decided enough is enough. Midlands-based Keltcrest Ltd, with over 20 years in scrap, has also recently gone into receivership.Wolmet Ltd, will also be closing its main Hathersage scrapyard in Derbyshire, northern England, managing director, Jean Waeldraedt told Reuters. The firm will operate much-reduced trading from Chippenham in the southwest, he said.

Adding to the catalogue of woe, stainless steel producer and major consumer of scrap, Avesta Sheffield, restated this month it would shed 260 jobs in Britain and would transfer its plating operations from Sheffield to Sweden in March.Merchants fear other activities may follow and were concerned that Avesta was reducing its intake ofscrap feed.

Scrap traders said orders from Avesta were down 60 per cent on normal volumes and stainless steel prices in the UK had dropped again in November. Avesta declined to comment.In the English Midlands, IMI Wolverhampton Metals, part of engineering group, IMI plc, said it was being forced to sell-up or close by year-end due to the adverse economic climate.

IMI's Wolverhampton plant produces 12,000 tonnes of secondary aluminium and copper ingot each year, finance director Ian Mellor said. He added that the company was in discussions with a number of firms to sell Wolverhampton metals.

The industry slows down

With shrinking demand and the loss of export markets due to high interest rates, the strong pound and global economic difficulties, a number of British manufacturing plants which use scrap metal said they were only asking merchants to quote for January delivery.

"Some plants are saying we are not even going to do anything about orders until 1999 because we know there is plenty ofscrap out there," one merchant said.