Option for implementation of deposit schemes for beverage packaging in Upper Austrian civic amenity sites

Austria must comply with an EU directive on the avoidance of plastic waste. This EU directive on single-use plastic stipulates that at least 77 percent of plastic beverage bottles, of which 1.6 billion are currently put into circulation in Austria every year, must be collected separately and also recycled by 2025 and at least 90 percent by 2029. Currently, the collection rate in Austria is still 70 percent. A deposit system would be the most efficient way to close the gap, according to the study "Possibilities for implementing the EU requirements regarding beverage containers, deposit systems and reusable packaging" published at the beginning of 2020. The convenient and accessible return option is seen as a relevant element of a modern one-way deposit system. The guiding principle for the return in most existing one-way deposit systems is "return at retail", i.e. the return by retailers. In addition to return at retail, there is also the possibility of return at decentralized return points. The objectives of the project include the evaluation of the effects of the introduction of a deposit system for beverage containers in Austria, firstly without the integration of waste material collection centers (as "baselilne variant") and secondly with the integration of Upper Austrian civic amenity sites (CAS) as return points for beverage containers (as "CAS variant"), whereby defined comparison criteria, possible external influences and design elements must be taken into account in the case of ASZ integration. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)