Greenpeace used data from the Federal Environment Agency to see how the “plastic packaging challenge” is faring in Austria. Specifically, the NGO looked for the proportion of recycled plastic and found it to be a mere 14 percent. “Successful recycling is a myth” and “the system is already reaching its limits” are the conclusions of the NGO. An end to plastic pollution can therefore only be achieved by dispensing with and reusing.
According to Greenpeace, it’s important to start at the source: “Wherever possible, manufacturers should do without packaging or use reusable and filling systems,” said Lisa Panhuber, Greenpeace Austria’s consumer expert. Because packaging is easy to reduce, while recycling remains the exception. Each year Austria “produces” about a million tons of plastic waste, “that’s about 46,000 truck containers full of waste” – packaging accounts for about a third of this, according to the figures of the Federal Environment Agency’s “Waste Status Report 2021”.
Deposit system for PET bottles only from 2025
About two months ago, Altstoff Recycling Austria (ARA) described the current situation with plastic packaging as challenging. Austria has in any case decided to introduce a deposit for single-use plastic bottles (along with cans) as part of the implementation of the EU directive on single-use plastics from 2025, but this packaging only concerns polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which probably the most well-known type of plastic at the moment.
If there were only PET, the rate would be much better at 31.7 percent, the NGO reported. However, four other types of plastic are particularly popular as packaging materials – and according to a survey of plastic manufacturers, the proportions there are at a low level. And there is bad news in the case of PET, too, because according to estimates from Zero Waste Europe, the sky is the limit: only about 42 percent of the material produced could flow into the EU’s desired circular economy by 2030.
Austria must massively reduce plastic consumption
In anticipation of the legally binding global plastics deal envisioned by the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) by the end of 2024, consumer expert Panhuber called on politicians and companies to “don’t slow down negotiations in the coming months”. As for Austria, single-use plastic packaging should be reduced by 25 percent by 2025 – a goal that members of the climate council would also share. And last but not least, the “EU plastic tax” has already resulted in payments of 270 million euros to Brussels since 2021.
Incidentally, the EU authority Eurostat also determined last year that in 2019 about 41 percent of all plastic packaging waste in the EU area was recycled. Austria is also not doing well here. With a recycling rate of 31 percent, it is one of the states where it is less than a third. Nine EU Member States recycle more than 50 percent of plastic packaging waste produced, with Lithuania leading the way with 70 percent.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
