Treatment of mixed municipal and commercial waste in Austria

The Federal Environment Agency has investigated volume flows and capacities of mechanical, mechanical-biological and thermal waste treatment (waste incineration) of mixed settlements and commercial waste as well as their interactions in the period 2003 to 2007. The 24 mechanical waste treatment plants had free capacity in 2007. The 17 mechanical biological waste treatment plants and the nine waste incineration plants were operated at almost full capacity. The survey of volume flows shows that import, export, interim storage, recycling and industrial co-incineration are gaining in importance. Another important part of the treatment chain is landfilling, which mainly involves waste from mechanical biological treatment and waste incineration plants.