Benchmarking – Austrian Waste Management: Are the objectives of waste management achieved? | Benchmarking für die österreichische Abfallwirtschaft – Werden die Ziele der Abfallwirtschaft erreicht?

In Austria, federal waste management goals aim at (i) protection of humans, animals and plants, (ii) reduction of greenhouse gases and air pollution, (iii) conservation of resources, (iv) production of recycled materials that do not present a greater risk than comparable primary materials, and (v) remaining waste that can be stored without jeopardizing future generations. To develop waste management further, the responsible Austrian Ministry commissioned a consortium of four universities to assess the current waste management system, to evaluate if given goals are reached effectively, and to suggest possible improvements towards waste management goals. During the subsequent evaluation step, the main goals are categorized and subdivided in sub goals, indicators and criteria (benchmarks). The benchmarks serve as pivot – to assess if given goals are reached or missed. Based on material flow analysis, the Austrian waste management is systematically described with regards to relevant flows and processes. Both, flows of goods and of selected valuable and hazardous substances (e.g. metals, carbon) are considered including data uncertainty. Selected environmental impacts were calculated using the method of life cycle assessment and cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) has been applied to evaluate the economic efficiency. CEA compares waste management associated costs with level of target achievement. The combination of material flow analysis and macroeconomic costs allows a complete characterisation of the current waste management system. The results underline the high level of the Austrian waste management, but also show in some areas opportunities for future optimization: Collection and recycling quotas of recyclable materials (e.g. wood and plastics) shall be increased, but also the question how to discharge pollutants needs to be solved. In order to reduce long-term emissions, regulations on landfill aftercare are necessary. In some areas, the assessment has encountered a lack of available methods and data limits. Particularly, the issues of ”protecting human health“, ”clean cycles“ and ”safe final sinks“ needs further investigations. The assessment also shows that the five goals are individually consistent, but there is a competition or dependence between them. It is not possible to improve all targets with a single action. An optimized way is necessary to find best possible interactions of several measures to ensure effective and economical waste management.