From 1 January, a one-time deposit on beverage bottles and cans will apply throughout Austria. The operators fear that the Viennese sausage stalls could disappear because, unlike food multinationals, they can hardly comply with the rules.
The Viennese Würstelstandler spokesman René Kachlir makes it clear: “We are not against environmental protection, we are for practical solutions.” The upcoming deposit system for disposable packaging, from PET bottles to beverage cans, is anything but practical for the stallholders, on the contrary: They do not know how to meet the requirements and see the sausage stands as a “piece of authentic Vienna” in danger.
“If everyone gives three or four bottles, that’s thousands!”
From 1 January, sausage stands will have to accept disposable packaging like any other sales outlet and refund 25 cents per piece. It’s not just drinks they sold themselves. Kachlir and his colleagues are already seeing it: especially in the evenings or at weekends, when supermarkets are closed, they will have to serve as a return point. The rule that you only have to accept as much as you normally sell yourself doesn’t help much: “If everyone gives away three or four bottles when they walk by, that’s thousands!”
Call for an exception for small businesses
The current regulation is simply unfeasible for the stallholders: they do not have the necessary storage space (the containers are only collected when the quantity is 450 or more, and only after a maximum of 48 hours), nor the employees who take care of the processing. greetings. The fact that the bank charges 20 cents for each necessary roll of cent coins is already a threatening financial burden for most people, which sooner or later has to be passed on to the customers.
The stallholders are calling for an exemption from the take-back obligation for companies with less than 25 square meters. A similar proposal from the Social Democratic Entrepreneurs Association in April was unanimously accepted by all parliamentary groups in the Chamber of Commerce. Since the Ministry of the Environment did not respond to this, the pressure will now be built up with an open letter to Minister Leonore Gewessler, warning of “irrevocable damage” to “the cultural heritage that lives in our sausage stalls”.
The Ministry of the Environment, however, wants to stick to the rule in its current form and points to Germany, where this also works. The only last resort left is the city, which could help the sausage stands with storage rights in public areas or similar exemptions. Otherwise, for around 700 snack bars, tobacco shops and other small businesses in Vienna, it looks more like a seizure than a deposit.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
