Helmut Melzer
After years of being blocked by numerous opponents from the industry, the basis for a new Austrian deposit system been created. From 2025, one-way deposit will be due for plastic bottles and beverage cans, and the mandatory reusable offer will gradually return as early as 2024. Nevertheless, there is criticism.
After a long struggle, the time has come: The Amendment of the Waste Management Act AWG brings an ordinance authorization that enables the system design for a deposit system. This means that the Ministry of the Environment is authorized to take over the design of the deposit system. The plan is to increase the reusable quota to at least 2025 percent by 25 and to at least 2030 percent by 30.
"This paved the way for 2029 percent of plastic bottles to be collected separately by 90, so that the EU requirement from the single-use plastic directive can be achieved," says Global 2000, which means that an important and hard-fought milestone has finally been reached. Only the very late implementation date of January 1.1.2025, XNUMX is questionable. International examples such as Lithuania show that it is possible to go from a political decision in favor of a deposit to operational implementation in just twelve months.
Global 2000 sees it as positive that there should be a long-term, gradual increase in the reusable range. However, these quotas are significantly lower than originally announced. The NGO also complains that there should be an exception to the reusable quota for plastic bottles and cans in the categories of water, juice and non-alcoholic soft drinks up to and including 0,5 liters. As a result, a large proportion is exempt from the reusable requirement.
Also: From January 1, 2023, operators of electronic marketplaces must ensure in their contracts with trading companies and manufacturers that they comply with the legal requirements for the collection and recycling of packaging, disposable plastic products, old electronic devices and device batteries and also participate in a collection and recycling system. Traders from other EU countries were already obliged to release packaging, but the reality was different: online traders from Asia in particular often did not take part in any collection and recycling system to date.
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