Eco box

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Öko-Box Sammlungsgesellschaft mbH
legal form GmbH
founding 1991
resolution 2014
Reason for dissolution Integration into the ARA
Seat Vienna 4 , Prinz-Eugen-Strasse 18
management Georg Matyk (Managing Director)
Branch Packaging recycling
Website oekobox.at

Eco box was an Austrian company for material recycling widespread, coated cardboard existing disposable packaging for beverages , commonly known as Tetra-Pak are called. It was established in 1991. Due to an amendment to the Waste Management Act that came into force on January 1, 2015, the company was fully integrated into Altstoff Recycling Austria AG (ARA) on June 30, 2014 , from which the collection system was initially continued under the familiar name, but was scaled back and in April In 2018 it was completely discontinued in favor of the collection in the yellow bin . Packaging collection systems must now be designed for the entire light packaging fraction.

The consumer has been provided in which the emptied free collection boxes packaging for utilizing cardboard factory of the company Mayr-Melnhof Karton in Frohnleiten were brought.

The box

The material of the box is about 1 mm thick, gray cardboard, printed in several colors. After punching and printing, the cardboard was creased, glued and folded flat, stamped and strapped. When pressed in this way, the piece measures about 50 × 35 × 1 cm with a mass of 100 g. After unfolding to form a cuboid (L: W: H = approx. 3: 2: 2), the two tabs lock the base and keep the box in shape. In the household, every empty beverage package should be rinsed out with cold water, folded as flat as possible and placed upright in the box.

collection

The collection took place via household collection and collection in waste material collection centers . The larger collective boxes , known as Öko-Box , were available at every post office in Austria until the end of November 2015 and could still be sent postage-free until the end of March 2016. In addition, they could be handed in at all waste material collection centers and building yards , where the beverage cartons are often collected in sacks. Until recently, empty boxes were only available in the Viennese branches of the food discount store Hofer . However, it was not possible to hand in full boxes there. The distribution of the boxes in the Hofer branches in other federal states ceased at the end of September 2015. In 2003, Öko-Box GmbH had a " monopoly-like position" in its sector .

Household collection

Household collection was often carried out by social organizations in the individual federal states, which thereby offered work to disadvantaged and disabled people. The Eco-Box was also awarded for this. The households were approached at regular times - usually every three weeks. The employees collected the full boxes that were parked in front of the front doors or garden gates and made empty boxes available again. The boxes for the household collection were so-called eco-bags , which were slightly smaller than the other eco- boxes.

Until the end of 2013, there was a household collection in all federal states except Burgenland , especially in the provincial capitals and other larger municipalities. This was discontinued in Upper Austria at the end of 2013 . Although it was initially emphasized that the collection system would be retained through the merger with ARA, household collection in Vorarlberg , Tyrol and Styria was discontinued at the end of 2014 , in Salzburg at the end of June 2015 and finally in Carinthia at the beginning of 2016 . In these regions, beverage cartons are now collected via the yellow bin or the yellow sack .

When it became known in July 2015 that household collection would also be discontinued in Carinthia in January 2016, the hope was that the existing collection system would be continued at the pro mente organization commissioned for the collection . However, only a temporary solution was made, so that household collection in parts of Carinthia - such as the state capital Klagenfurt - continued until the end of March 2016, while from January 2016 collection via the yellow bin and the yellow sack was also possible. The discontinuation of the collection in Innsbruck had already caused displeasure at Lebenshilfe Tirol , which had been responsible for it for years. Lebenshilfe Tirol once received the environmental protection award from the city of Innsbruck. ARA argues in favor of discontinuing household collections for reasons of efficiency and cost. So it is easier for the citizens to collect the beverage cartons in the yellow bin together with other plastic packaging.

Vienna

In Vienna, too, the filled boxes were picked up in a car-based manner close to the street, where they had to be made visible at the front door or, if necessary, at the garden door. Most recently, the ARA carrying out this collection published the pick-up dates for the boxes 6 months in advance on ara.at. Vienna was divided into four zones of five to seven districts each. These zones were served fortnightly, on Tuesday 1 or 2 and Wednesday 1 or 2. Due to public holidays, there was sometimes a shift back by one day.

Most recently, around 10% of households in Vienna participated in the recycling of composite cardboard packaging via Öko-Box. A collection result of 400 tons per year was achieved in Vienna, which means less than 9% recycling rate for milk and juice packaging on this path.

At the end of March 2018, the in-house collection in Vienna, the last federal state, was discontinued . Redmail was responsible for collecting the beverage cartons .

Empty beverage cartons are now to be disposed of in the yellow bin or yellow sack and returned to the carton recycling process through the sorting process. A higher recycling rate is expected from a simplification on the consumer side.

Recovery

The packaging is dismantled in the cardboard factory. The cellulose used for the board production that of the coating derived aluminum and polyethylene is burned. Depending on the degree of soiling and the quality of the material, the cellulose content is also recycled when it is collected in the yellow bin.

In 2012, almost 7,700 tons of beverage cartons were recycled by Öko-Box and a further 7,300 tons were thermally recycled.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Interview with Georg Matyk
  2. ↑ Tiroler Tageszeitung: Öko-Box goes under the wing of the ARA . Article dated June 23, 2014, accessed March 8, 2020
  3. ↑ a b umweltruf.de: Altstoff Recycling Austria AG takes over Öko-Box Sammges. mb H .. . Article dated June 24, 2014, accessed August 7, 2015
  4. ↑ Dagmar Hemmer, Andreas Höferl: privatization and liberalization of public services in the EU-15: Waste Management . Ed .: Austrian Society for Policy Advice and Policy Development. Vienna April 2003, p. 27 ( PDF, 131 KiB ).
  5. ↑ a b kärnten.orf.at: Ökoboxen: pro mente loses jobs . Article dated July 29, 2015, accessed August 7, 2015
  6. ↑ tirol.orf.at: Ökobox fell victim to profitability . Article dated February 15, 2015, accessed August 7, 2015
  7. ↑ http://www.ara.at/fileadmin/user_upload/Downloads/Abholtermine_Wien_2018_bis_Maerz.pdf
  8. ↑ Öko-Box will be abolished orf.at, February 3, 2018, accessed February 4, 2018.
  9. ↑ ARA Ökobox: http://www.oekobox.at/ , accessed on January 28, 2018
  10. ↑ The eco-box collection in Linz will be discontinued at the end of 2013! ( Memento of July 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on August 7, 2015
  11. ↑ Collective statistics 2012 ( Memento from January 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive )