Event Planning | Green Meetings & CSR | A city worth living in | Waste Management and Recycling

Waste Management and Recycling

Vienna ranks among the cleanest cities in the world, because waste prevention and resource conservation have the highest priority in Vienna. This is reflected by the numerous programs and initiatives of the City of Vienna, all of which share the goal of sustainable utilization of resources.

With the Vienna Waste Management Concept 2007 several measurements have amongst others been determined which are to be implemented in the coming years: from waste prevention, littering, waste sorting, waste collection and waste treatment to aspects of environmentally friendly waste transport.

About 40% of the waste is collected separately, allowing it to be recycled.
The Spittelau incineration plant is not only a well-known tourist attraction because of its redesign by Friedensreich Hundertwasser but also one of several plants that provides district heating in Vienna. Originally it was supposed to provide the new general hospital with warmth; today it heats 60,000 households in Vienna. With the plant “Biogas Wien” clean energy can be obtained from organic waste. This plant supplies 600 Vienna households with district heating.
Vienna has also the most modern plastic sorting plant in Europe which ensures sorting purities of almost 100% and in the end allows again the production of new PET beverage packages.

These are only a few examples how Austria and especially Vienna has successfully completed the transition from complete waste disposal to the eco-friendly treatment and recycling of sustainable waste management, making it one of the top performers in this field in Europe. The quality of waste disposal services has risen, for example through the introduction of certified waste disposal companies, and the environmental impact of waste treatment has been considerably reduced.