International Review of Waste Management Policy - Department of ...

Box 2: Recycling Centres in Upper Austria
The company LAVU AG operates a system of bring collection centres across Upper
Austria. The Region is organised into 445 municipalities grouped into 18 provinces
which are responsible for waste management in their area. The Region covers 1.4
million inhabitants, living in 550,000 hhlds, across an area of 12,000 km 2.
In 1990, more than 60% of waste was sent to landfill. Now, 30% of waste is sent for
some form of disposal. This change has been based upon a system of bring banks
and the introduction of Waste Collection Centres (WCCs). 180 WCCs have been
erected to collect up to 70 different waste materials, which can be recycled at a later
date. These collection centers are public buildings, where residents are invited to
bring their waste and separate it in different boxes and containers. Specially trained
employees are present at all times to help and encourage this service.
In rural parts of the country each WCC services approximately 10,000 inhabitants; in
urban areas this increases up to 50,000 inhabitants per WCC. These WCC are also
used for collecting hazardous waste from households.
The WCCs feed their materials into one Central Logistics Centre. The vehicles sent
from the centre are compartmentalized and are specifically arranged so as to collect
all materials (in their relative proportions) from a given WCC. The centre genuinely
puts ‘reverse logistics’ into practice, dismantling WEEE items, making biofuels from
old vegetable oils, and recycling a bewildering range of different materials. 500 jobs
have been created by the system.
Preparing Vegetable Oil Containers Unloading a vehicle from the WCC
for Unloading
883
International Review of Waste Policy: Annexes