Recycling

Recycling, collective term for operations aimed at recovering raw materials from waste materials; important factor in integrated Waste Management. Waste glass, waste paper and waste metal have been recycled in Austria since the time of industrialisation. Initially these materials were recycled for economic reasons. Today, ecological aspects are more important and have led to the development of new recycling methods. Austria has facilities for the recycling of refrigerators, fluorescent lamps, plastic materials, electronic scrap, cables, cars, building rubble etc. At present (1995) approx. 40 % of all waste is recycled, but the actual percentage of recycled materials varies greatly from category to category (e.g. 100 % of all refrigerators).