Living in Austria

Recycling and Waste Management

Recycling and waste separation play an important role in Austria. The Austrian Waste Management Act lays down the most important principles, such as sustainability, protection of people and the environment and the conservation of natural resources.

Overview

Waste prevention has top priority. The measures include using reusable packaging instead of disposable packaging, repairing or renting instead of buying new packaging and passing on goods that are no longer needed. Most glass, plastics, metals, waste paper and organic waste can be recycled or processed.

Depending on the federal state, there are different systems and colours of waste containers. In Vienna, for example, there is a well-organised, colour-coded recycling bin system that applies to both street bins and households.

Practical links for recycling

ara.at

The ARA Recycling Guide is very practical, it tells you exactly what you can dispose of and where.

muellapp.com

With the rubbish app, you can bring your personal rubbish calendar to your mobile phone or mailbox.

Recycling by material

Recycling paper

Altstoff Recycling Austria AG (ARA) is Austria's leading collection and recycling system for packaging. In 2023 alone, the company collected over 1 million tonnes of packaging and waste paper. Interestingly, households account for a third of this with industry and business making up the other two-thirds. The red bins are either placed directly at the households or at designated public places in the cities.
Recycling plastic

In Vienna, Lower Austria, Salzburg, Carinthia and parts of Upper Austria, bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) are collected for direct bottle-to-bottle recycling. Before you put your plastic bottles in the bin, you should squeeze and flatten them first; this saves space in the collection trucks.

Recycling glass

Clear and coloured glass is collected separately. Separation is very important, as a single green bottle is enough to contaminate 500kg of clear glass.
Recycling Metal

You can collect aluminium foil or caps in the blue metal recycling bins.

Recycling clothes and clothing material

There are several large clothing aid organisations in Austria that accept donations. The containers are usually located at central waste collection points or in municipal depots.

repanet.at

More information on recycling textile.

kolping.at

Other ways to recycle textiles.

caritas-wien.at

Further information on clothes and textiles.

Waste App

Uniquely, Austria has a free mobile app called Müllapp (TrashApp) which helps with garbage collection. The app covers several Austrian cities with its useful services. For example, users can organize their own garbage collection and the app will remind them to put their bins outside on the chosen day. It also provides updates from the city council as well as information about where to find nearby containers. The app also tells you where to dispose of old clothes and provides details of other specific waste management sites.