Altstoff Recycling Austria (ARA, Vienna; www.ara.at) said it wants to recycle as much raw material as possible via the route of mechanical recycling, but when the substances are not of a sufficiently good quality for this method, Austria’s leading packaging collection system plans to opt for chemical recycling in the case of mixed and soiled plastic packaging waste.

ARA has filed a patent application for a polyolefin compounding system for the residual materials left after sorting, according to CEO Harald Hauke, who announced the move at a press conference to mark the company’s 30-year anniversary. ARA said it would construct a compounding plant for these residual materials in the second quarter of 2024 with a planned capacity of around 10,000 t/y.

Since processes for the majority of mixed plastic fractions are not yet fully mature and scalable, these fractions require additional processing prior to chemical recycling, Hauke explained. In the light of the increased collection volumes and the new lightweight packaging sorting plant in Ennshafen, Austria, with input of 100,000 t/y and a start date in 2025, a sorting depth of 80% is to be achieved over the next two years. ARA said it plans to set up a further fully automatic sorting facility together with German waste management firm PreZero.

ARA board member Martin Prieler said, “We aim to boost recycling rates in Austria from 25% to some 50%”, noting that the company will then be well prepared for the regulatory challenges such as recycling quotas, the amended Waste Management Act and Packaging Ordinance, and the European Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (PPWD). Over the past year, ARA has made some 36,000 t baled plastics available for mechanical recycling and supplied some 330 t recyclate to packaging producers. Prieler noted that he expects this figure to increase to around 50,000 t baled goods by 2025.

All in all, the ARA experts are expecting a medium-term capacity of 10,000 t/y to 20,000 t/y for chemical recycling in Austria. However, the necessary regulations are still needed to implement the plans.

Last year, Austrian households collected and separated more than 1 mn t of packaging, a 3.9% decline on the previous year said to be due to the Ukraine war and inflation. The standardised collection for lightweight packaging is reportedly having a positive effect with volume increases of some 30% in the regions that have switched to this system and a rise of 11% across Austria as a whole.

Related: PET to PET reports record reclaim volume in 2022

In 2022, the ARA Circular Economy Barometer, commissioned annually by the company, showed an increase in the circular economy index to 59.2 from 50.0 in 2021 on a scale of 0 to 100. This is said to mean that every second company in Austria plans to invest in circular economy.

According to the study, the chief reasons for the commitment of Austrian companies to a circular economy are the conservation of resources (90%), contributing to climate protection (90%), and social responsibility (88%).