Austria:
Recycling Plastic Waste

Overused and abused, plastics are a millstone on the environment. Yet, there is no avoiding them or even wishing them away. They revolutionised life in the 20th century and are now here to stay (and grow), having seeped into our homes, offices, factories, hospitals, farmlands, parks and transportation systems including cars, aircraft and boats. So versatile, cheap and long lasting are plastics that they are being used to produce an impressive range of cost-effective, durable items that help enhance the comfort and quality of life in a modern, industrial society. Unfortunately, very often they are used to make low-value items such as bags, bottles and packaging - that are used just once and thrown without being collected for reprocessing.

In 1996, world production of plastics was 150 million tonnes (current figure would be touching 200) with the average per capita consumption being 100 kg in developed countries and 1-10 kg (this is escalating rapidly) in the emerging economies. Globally, 2-3 fold increases in the production and consumption of plastic materials in the next 20 years are forecast. The GCC countries are expected to produce 3 million tonnes of plastics this year, a key contributor being the UAE where the plastic industry has been the fastest growing sector since 1990. The per capita consumption in the GCC region, back in 1996, was more than 37 kg (up from 5.5 kg in 1975). Again, an average individual in the UAE consumed the most, and continues to do so.

The issue of plastic waste disposal is among the urgent problems that our world faces. Plastics are hazardous waste and most of them in use today are non-degradable or take 200-400 years to degrade. They emerge as unsightly litter; clog landfills - plastics may be light but are voluminous - and can leach toxins (such as cadmium and lead compounds) into the soil and groundwater. For instance, in the United States plastics

A collection site for municipal waste separation at the Graz University of Technology....the Austrians have a remarkable success in recovering and reusing plastic refuse

account for about 8% by weight and 20% by volume of municipal solid wastes and about 60% of the debris found on beaches. Plastic waste creates severe problems particularly at sea, killing millions of mammals, birds, reptiles and fish each year. Plastics can become an environmental ordeal!

However, this needn't be the case. Ways that plastic pollution can be considerably curtailed were pointed out at a recent workshop on Plastics and the Environment (20-24 March 2000, Sharjah) organised jointly by International Centre for Science and High Technology, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation and University of Sharjah. Various aspects of plastic waste management were discussed. These ranged from reduction in the amount of material entering the waste stream to means of dealing with its disposal including reuse, recycling, burning while generating power and the production of 'environmentally acceptable plastics.' The last include environmentally degradable plastics that may be petro-based (petrochemicals with additives that allow them to break down into carbon dioxide and water) or bio-based (on, for e.g., corn, soy and gelatin making them capable of composting). Of course, scientific proof of degradability within a specified time frame is essential before such plastics to qualify as being 'acceptable.'

Tremendously inspiring are the means Austria is using to tackle the vexing problem of plastic garbage. Here is one country where litter bins

Whether its the city airport, a street corner, a glacial wildrness or commercial district, in Austria, the 'group of four' will always be there

are found, not individually but always in groups of four, colour coded and labled for compostables, paper, metal and others. Whether it's the city airport, any street corner, a glacial wilderness or commercial district the 'group of four' will be there. And the best thing is that very rarely will the throwaways be found mixed-up in these bins.

"Awareness about waste segregation is high. Trash reduction and the community's responsibility in helping manage it constitutes part of education in homes, schools, offices, everywhere. My school-going child tells me what kind of discards I should throw where!" remarks Prof. Gerhart Braunegg (Institut fur Biotechnologie, Technische Universitat, Graz, Austria) as he describes plastic waste management and reuse in Austria.

What about the use of carrier bags and refuse sacks? Most people carry their own reusable shopping bags; if you don't, you'll have to buy them from the supermarket. And, as far as garbage bags go, one doesn't use them at all - there's no need to, because just outside ones home there's a bin for food scrap (to be collected for composting). Right next to it there's another for cardboard-plastic mixed packages; and no more than 50 metres away from any residence is a collection centre for all types of refuse - compostables, plastics, metals, paper, white glass, coloured glass, and non-sorted waste.

What if one is careless about separating materials for recovery; for example if one throws used batteries in with the food scrap? "You are expected to deposit batteries in your supermarket

Containers for depositing coloured and white glass

where you will find a box for used cells in the batteries section. So if you are not particular about sorting your garbage, you will receive a notice from the municipal authorities. If you still don't change your habits, you will be fined and your municipality tax will be hiked," says Prof. Braunegg. That explains why Austrian residents object to you, as a passerby, throwing litter into 'their' bins. Just incase you carelessly throw a banana peel in with their plastics and they have to take the flak for it!

It was in the early 1990s that Austria decided to tackle its plastic waste head on. It had to. There was hardly any choice. Its landfills were bursting. We are talking about a per capita plastic packaging use of 129 kg in1995 (although this figure is high, it is still 20 kg lower that the European average), the bulk of which went to dumping grounds. An Austrian law in 1993 (Austrian

Containers for small quantities of recycling paper and metals, kept at a walking distance from flats or houses

Packaging Ordinance) mandated that plastic packaging waste must be collected and recycled throughout the country. All producers (and importers) of packed goods, fillers and packers were made responsible for collection and recovery of their packaging. Quantities that may be landfilled (this means of disposal amounts to colossal waste of resources) were stipulated - no more than 90,000 tonnes in 1998; and not exceeding 60,000 tonnes in 2001. Compare these figures to the 558,900 tonnes of plastic waste that Austria landfilled in 1994! Percentage by weight of different packaging materials that must be recycled was also fixed.

The first step was to set up the infrastructure required, including the installation of sorted waste collection centres that now exist at 50,000 locations all over Austria. Next, a system for effective recovery, further sorting and recycling of waste packaging material (recycling plastics is particularly cumbersome because it calls for arduous sorting into different resin types). Thus came about Altstoff Recycling Austria (ARA). It comprises three privately operating non-profit organisations that are independent of each other and organise collection and recycling based on efficiency, cost-effectiveness and ecology. ARA signs license contracts with all relevant companies, collects license fees and transfers the money to the other two for execution.

Prof. Braunegg Prof. Braunegg is conducting research on an environmentally degradable plastic that is based on cheese whey, most of which is just thrown away. It constitutes a polluting by product of the milk industry in Austria and other European countries. The 'wheypol process,' that Prof. Braunegg has researched, uses harmless soil bacteria that take up the whey's sugar components to produce the microbial cell mass from which biological polyesters (called polyhydroxyalkanoates) are extracted. These can be used for the production of plastic packaging materials. After use, they can either be composted because they are completely biodegradable, or they can be utilised for the production of methane in a biogas plant.

The growing quantities of plastic waste collected over the years, have been accompanied by more and more of it being reused. There has also been an increase in recycled plastic packaging materials and in its incineration (under strict government control) for energy recovery. Cement factories and fibre producing companies have started burning large amounts of shredded plastic packaging to meet their power needs.

What is more, Austria initiated research on the development of 'environmentally degradable plastics' (EDPs) way back in 1975. However, there is a concern that non-degradable plastics may be thrown along with degradable in the compostable (biodegradable) waste. Since this waste is collected and treated separately, the presence of non-biodegradable plastics in it would be most undesirable. Hence, EDPs haven't quite taken off in Austria.

Here, then, are the broad choices for handling plastic waste: bury in landfill site; recover it (reuse, recycle, and incinerate while reclaiming energy); or switch to a new plastic material that is degradable. Experts predict that all will coexist. But there will be an appreciable decrease in the landfilling practice; reduction in the production of plastic waste as a result of incentives, disincentives and consumer awareness; and recycling as well as energy recovery by incineration will accompany the increasing use of degradable plastics. EDPs will replace those plastics that are difficult and uneconomical to recycle.