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Leonore Gewessler would like to travel back to the 1990s. At least when it comes to beverage packaging. Back then, reusable bottles had a share of almost 90 percent, today it is only 19 percent, complained the Minister of the Environment. In the fight against plastic waste, yesterday presented a three-point plan. This includes a retail returnable bottle fee, a one-way bottle deposit, and a plastic production and import fee.
If it goes according to the minister’s ideas, binding reusable fees should be achieved in stages. By 2023 it has a participation of 25 percent, in 2025 and in 40 and 2030 at least 55 percent.
Furthermore, sanctions against the EU should be avoided. Although the Austrians are exemplary in the classification of waste (metal, glass, waste paper), they do not reach the plastic collection rates required by the EU. As a result, there is a risk of fines of 160 to 180 million euros, which the finance minister, Blümel, wants to settle with the budget, that is, with the taxpayers’ money. A no-go from Gewessler’s point of view. After all, the incentive to avoid waste would be zero.
Gewessler’s plans found no approval in the trade. Industry spokesman Rainer Trefelik describes this as “not very practical”. A one-way deposit on PET bottles would spell the end for many small and medium-sized retailers. “Because both the technical effort and the personnel costs would be enormous,” says Trefelik. An Austrian solution, where there are exceptions for small businesses, is not a solution. “Then customers will go mainly to distributors where they can find the return machines. That means the little ones get under the wheels in one way or another when a one-way tank is inserted. “
Willibald Mandl, from the food industry, responds to the same line: “Our companies, mostly small, do not have the staff or the space to install an additional collection system.” Container deposit.
