More rubbish than ever before was handed over to the 179 waste collection centers (ASZ) in the state last year: 304 million kilograms, an increase of 2.3 percent compared to the previous year. The trend towards online order exchanges can also be seen in the waste: the proportion of cardboard boxes increased by ten percent.
“For the first time we have broken the 300 million mark,” says Christian Ehrengruber, Managing Director of the Upper Austrian state waste recycling company. “On average, every Upper Austrian brought 203 kilos of waste to the collection points.” Of these, 31 kilograms were packaging and 25 kilograms were textile goods.
In the recycling section, which includes textiles and shoes, more than 3,500 tons were collected in the ASZ, an increase of eight percent compared to the previous year. With 47,500 tons and an increase of seven percent, the packaging area increased the second strongest, with the mass of cardboard boxes alone increasing by ten percent. As part of the EU circular economy, 50 percent of plastic packaging must be recycled by 2025 and 55 percent by 2030. In order to achieve this goal, the state waste recycling companies cooperate with science and industry as well as universities and the Kepler University in Linz.
Even if more electronic waste was handed in compared to 2021, the total weight of waste in this category fell in the previous year. “That’s because modern devices weigh less than old ones. For example, a large number of flat screens were sold, which are a lot lighter than old tube devices,” says Roland Wohlmuth, chairman of the state waste association.
Source: Nachrichten
