An acquaintance with 30+ yrs. as a test engineer etc. commented to me recently that the German govt. policy on "recycling" has had an adverse impact on the availability of BMW (and I suppose Mercedes and Audi) parts for engines over 10 yrs old.. spares inventories were significantly reduced and genuine parts such as valves, bearing shells, pistons etc were/are difficult to acquire. Apparently the policy is to encourage people to buy "new" and recycle rather than repair!
I don't know how true this is.

