Just 30% of all approved treatment facilities will receive a boost from the car scrappage scheme, which begins on 18 May.

Scrapped cars from the car scrappage scheme will pass through the car manufacturer’s usual end-of-life treatment facilities instead of being opened out to the whole of the industry, meaning a small fraction will feel the benefit, reports Materials Recycling Weekly.

A spokesperson from the Department of Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform said: “The cars will be dealt with as ordinary end-of-life vehicles through the manufacturers.

The primary reason for the scheme is to boost the car industry so the scrappage industry and green side of things are secondary to this.”

British Metal Recycling Association director general Ian Hetherington felt the Government had ignored its concerns over the implementation of the scheme. He said: “It is imperative that consumers should be able to access the full range of local authorised treatment facilities made available through the “end of life vehicle” regulations and benefit from the scrap value placed on their vehicles. Otherwise there is a danger that that the ELV market may be distorted as a consequence.”

Among the scrap industry it has also been felt that the Government has not clarified the scheme since being announced in the budget.

A scrap insider added: “We haven’t been told about the rules. I think the scheme is rather disingenuous because it implies that nothing is going to change. Only a third of all the Government approved treatment facilities will be used and this is desperately unfair.”

Car manufacturer Ford expects the scheme to reflect its market share of 20 per cent of car sales. The firm has a national chain of 130 ATFs and 20 collection points, so there will be no need to add to these numbers when the increased amounts of metal hit next week.

Cartakeback.com are contracted to provide dismantling services to Ford. Its manager Graham Price said: “Car manufacturers want to use their own contracted ATFs because they know these firms guarantee the 85 per cent recycling compliancy rate. Car manufacturers have the power to ensure this recycling rate has been met by only choosing certain ATFs. There are possibly half of Government ATFs, which haven’t reported any target achievements to BERR so they are not as attractive to car manufacturers. This is already the normal system for many scrapped cars.”

“In addition to this, not everyone offers a collection service, which is being demanded by car manufacturers and dealerships.”