Project description
The Austrian waste management sector has already made a major contribution to climate protection in the past. However, this contribution is largely based on emission reductions from landfills, biological and mechanical-biological waste treatment, wastewater treatment and disposal, and waste incineration. On the one hand, this does not include energy and resource consumption from the industry's recycling activities, e.g., the sorting of waste and the production of high-quality secondary raw materials and recyclates.
Indeed, the main positive climate change mitigation effects of the industry are through waste treatment and material flow management. A comparison between positive and negative effects of recycling is not available for Austria as a whole. However, examples from Styria and Vienna show a clearly positive balance.
Aims of the project
- Recording of all emissions and greenhouse gas savings from treatment and recycling processes (including upstream and downstream transport) using recognized mathematical models
- Visualization of greenhouse gas balances at material flow and company level
- Derivation of additional savings potentials through in-depth analyses of the underlying processes
- Development of recommendations for action and arguments for all stakeholders (waste management companies, waste management associations, responsible ministries, etc.)
- Development of models for the monetarization of surpluses for individual operations