Provincial Waste Management Plan Styria - Abfallwirtschaft - Abfall ...

1 Introduction
Provincial Waste Management Plan Styria - 2005
In accordance with the requirements of § 5 StAWG (Styrian Waste Management Act) 2004 the
Government of Styria has to adopt a Provincial Waste Management Plan to implement the goals
and principles as defined in § 1 StAWG 2004. Thereafter, with respect to precautionary and
sustainability principles, waste management is to be designed in such a way that i) waste volumes and
their pollutant contents are kept as low as possible (waste prevention), that ii) waste is recovered if
this is ecologically useful and technically feasible and if the resulting extra costs are not
disproportionate (waste recovery), and that iii) non-recoverable waste is treated with suitable
procedures and remaining residues are as non-reactive as possible (waste disposal).
The Provincial Waste Management Plan is to refer to municipal waste, whereby it has to contain
• an analysis of the waste volumes,
• a presentation of treatment plants,
• forecasts on the development of waste volumes,
• goals for a sustainable waste and material flow management,
• as well as strategies for waste prevention and waste treatment (waste recovery and waste
disposal).
The Provincial Governor has to present the Provincial Waste Management Plan to the Federal
Minister for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, whereby any contents related
to plants for the disposal of non-hazardous waste shall be integrated into the Federal Waste
Management Plan in addition to any content which is subject to environmental assessment pursuant
to Directive 2001/42/EC on the Assessment of the Effects of certain Plans and Programs on the
Environment (SEA Directive) (§ 8 para. 4 AWG 2002). Since the present Provincial Waste
Management Plan 2005 does not contain any measures representing a framework for future approvals
in the sense of Art. 3 of the SEA Directive, such an assessment is not required for the Provincial
Waste Management Plan 2005. In this context, it is important to note that the presentation of treatment
plants for non-hazardous municipal waste does not include guidelines for the location of waste
treatment plants and does therefore not provide a framework for future approval of projects. By
approving of this Provincial Waste Management Plan no significant impact on the environment in the
sense of the SEA Directive is expected (in Styria, the SEA Directive is implemented according to the
requirements related to spatial planning as defined in the Styrian Regional Planning Act).
According to the general division of competences laid down in the Austrian Federal Constitution (Art.
10, para. 1, No. 12 Federal Constitutional Law), the Federal State has exclusive legislative and
executive competences in the field of waste management with regard to hazardous waste, but also
with regard to non-hazardous waste as far as there is the need to pass uniform regulations. Due to the
Bedarfsgesetzgebungskompetenz (meaning that if required the Federal State is given more authority
than the provinces in certain matters), which has been claimed to a large extent by the Federal State,
the Styrian Waste Management Act 2004 covers only the provincial legislation for non-hazardous
municipal waste, being only a part of waste management. The contents of the Provincial Waste
Management Plan 2005 are likewise limited to non-hazardous waste, however, the analysis of the
waste volumes, the presentation of the treatment plants, and the forecasts on the development of
waste volumes also contain other waste types. This is due to the fact that collection and treatment
structures are jointly used, hence enabling a continuous presentation of the volume development and
forecasts.
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