Waste collection

Waste collection is an essential element in waste management system. This system should be applied
to any country including Austria. It helps in reduce serious problems such as health problem and
sanitary problems. Solid waste collection includes the process of transferring the wastes from the
sources to disposal areas. Based on government legislation in 2011 the population of the people live in
Austria was 8.44 mil people and the Austrian capital produces roughly more 55.4 million tonnes of
wastes per year. Over these years, separate waste collection was introduced to promote safe
environment. Since 1992, Austria management system has obligated a separate waste collection
policy where they need to separate bio-wastes and packaging paper waste. In Austria, the separate
collection of organic waste is compulsory, unless it is composted in the household or wherever it
accumulates.

This figure below shows the examples of waste that been separated accordingly to their types.

mixed
municipal
waste
specific
hazardous
bulky
waste waste

separation
food & collection
construction
kitchen waste
waste

green recycleable
waste
waste

Figure 1

Most of the wastes are separated according to its types before undergoes the treatment process. These
wastes are being transported by using specific vehicles to be transferred to their treatment facilities.
The table below shows the vehicles are being used during the process of transferring all the wastes
collected.

domestic waste collection with special vehicle for liquid waste walking-floor truck for
side loader transporting light fraction

transhipment of filter dust from commercial waste rail transport skip vehicle
truck to rail

Figure 3

To achieve an effective system, separate bins were installed for every house in Austria. There is 4
phases of collection system in Austria.

Phase 1 :All waste is collected and

sent to legals landfills

Phase 2 : Separate collection of

glass , paper, metals & plastics

Phase 3 : Ban on landfilling

reactive waste treatment/recycling

Phase 4 : Waste prevention &

recycling revisited

Figure 4
Solid waste sector is monopolied by public institutions based on household level. Solid waste
management is a service for the public and therefore municipalities are committed to collect the waste
of every business and every household. Every citizen has to pay for the service when some of private
sectors and organisation involve themselves where they provide more efficient system.

Figure 2: Waste Collection Strategy (sources from Austriantrade.org)

Waste Treatment & Disposal

Austria’s waste management has developed into another level where, the waste treatment in Austria
has become so beneficial to their citizens and country. municipal administration is not only
responsible for the entire chain of waste disposal, but also handles the processing of residual waste
independently starting from collection to thermal treatment and as a final result, they are depositing of
the incineration residues at a municipally-owned landfill to preserve safe environment. The operation
of treatment plants by Austria government has created a sustainable environment where they are
transforming wastes to energy. Most of municipal solid wastes in Austria are being recycled due to
For instance, The Zisterdorf Energy-from-Waste plant is a thermal waste treatment plant located in
north Vienna that capable to treat up tonnes of wastes in a year and generating them into electricity.
By having incineration process as well as the fluidised bed furnace 4 are used for the thermal
treatment of residual waste, bulky waste and other combustible mixed waste collected in the city and
there is a regulation that has been obligated
Fluidized bed furnaces act as incinerators are used to burn the waste materials before transforming
them into energy. The heat generated from combustion undergoes several processes and use to
generate electricity.

For years, the Austria government has integrated waste management to create high public
awareness and environment regulations. One of them is the ban on disposal of hazardous wastes to
landfills, except of inorganic wastes encapsulated in closed salt formations by July 2001and the ban
on disposal of waste exceeding 5 % TOC (Total Organic Carbon) for new landfills by the beginning
of 1997 and for existing landfills at the beginning of 2004. For the disposal of wastes, it comes last
behind avoidance and recycling but most advised to be treated and disposed. Therefore, a method of
recycling is introduced to the public to be practiced. Recycling can be described either as the
production of secondary raw material or the use of thermal energy gained from burning material with
high caloric value. Paper is used to produce paper again, metal is used in the respective production
industry, glass replaces primary raw material in the packaging industry and so do some plastic
fractions. As many different types of plastic exist, material recycling is sometimes difficult and
thermal use is generally favoured.
http://www.fcc-group.eu/en/Austria/Technologies/Collection-and-Transport.htm l

file:///C:/Users/user/Downloads/hzi_ref_zistersdorf_en.pdf

http://www.seas.columbia.edu/earth/wtert/sofos/franz-neubacher-WTE-Austria.pdf