— By Plasteurope.com staff — 

German waste disposal service provider PreZero (Porta Westfalica; www.prezero-international.com) said it has put its new sorting plant for lightweight packaging online in Sollenau, Austria. At the site, which covers an area of 44,000 m², the company can sort up to 100,000 t/y of packaging waste from the country’s yellow bag and bin system on fully automated lines.

PreZero did not provide details on the investment sum, but it did receive EUR 10 mn from EU funds for the construction of the plant.

The German disposal giant said its new plant uses AI-based technology to sort household packaging as well as lithium batteries and electrical appliances containing batteries. Such items still end up in household plastics waste collections and have in the past caused fires at recycling lines.

Trade associations and industry experts had recently noted that Austria is lagging behind in plastic packaging recovery. In 2024, the recycling rate was at only 25%. While this is above the 22.5% minimum requirement mandated by the EU, there is quite a gap to the 50% that member states have to reach by the end of 2025.

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Triplast, a joint venture of Bernegger, Altstoff Recycling Austria, and GreenDot, put a sorting line with a similar capacity into operation at Ennshafen, Austria, last year. The partners plan to invest another EUR 35 mn in the construction of a mechanical processing plant for the sorted waste volumes.

Austria on 1 January 2025 introduced nationwide collection for lightweight and metal packaging in its yellow bag and bin system. The country’s recycling industry is hoping the measure will result in a considerable rise in waste volumes and, consequently, recycling rates.

The Austrian government also implemented a 25-cent deposit on plastic bottles and beverage cans from 1 January 2025, which should help to increase recycled volumes.