AUSTRIA EXPECTS TO REACH ONE TON OF RECYCLED METAL BY 2023

A study revealed that the percentage of waste recycled in Lower Austria had reached 63%, which is just above the EU target. However, plastic and metal foil containers still require improvement. The president of the Lower Austrian environmental associations had already been approached earlier on this sensitive point.

The countries of the European Union have stipulated a number of targets for 2025, including an increase in the recycling rate of plastic packaging to 50 percent. In Baja Austria, however, the figure in this area is currently only 25 to 30 percent. To achieve this goal and simplify waste separation, it is now intended to standardize collection with yellow or yellow bags as of January 1, 2023.

As of January 1, all packaging in Lower Austria, with the exception of glass and paper, will go into the yellow garbage can or yellow sack. Improper waste separation should be avoided and, at the same time, the plastic recycling rate should be increased.

There are currently five different regulations in Lower Austria on how plastics and metal should be disposed of correctly. As of January 1, there will be only one: All containers, except glass and paper, go in the yellow sack or garbage can.

In the future, this will also include metal containers. The blue container currently used in 17 statutory associations and cities for metal and aluminum packaging will disappear. From next year, this packaging will also go into the yellow bag or garbage can. This will be followed by a major information campaign.

However, such a measure will not be completely uniform: the district of Neunkirchen will continue to use the environmentally friendly recycling container system in the future, in which metal and plastic containers are already disposed of together. In the district of Gmünd, the new regulation will only be implemented in 2025.

For his part, Deputy Governor Stephan Pernkopf (ÖVP), who is responsible for the environment, sees standardization as an important step towards improving the circular economy in Lower Austria and thus protecting the environment. “The simpler the collection systems and the more recycling, the less new plastic and less resource depletion,” concluded the Austrian environmental officer. The simpler the collection systems and the more recycling, the less new plastic and the less resource depletion,” concluded the Austrian environmental officer.