The recycling system developed by Altstoff Recycling Austria AG (ARA, Schottenfeldgasse 29, A-1072 Vienna) has handled 76,434 t of plastics packaging materials in Austria during 1994. Almost 40% of the amount of plastics materials collected was passed on to – mostly local – firms, specialised in material recycling.

To achieve a better coordination of their material recycling activities the leading Austrian recycling companies have joined together in the organisation Vereinigte Kunststoff-Recycler Österreichs (VKRÖ, Obere Donaustr. 71, A-1020 Vienna). According to information from the companies, the VKRÖ recyclers posess a high standard of know-how and equipment. They are the guarantors of environmentally correct handling of the total amount of old plastics suitable for material recycling. The members currently have recycling capacity of approx. 100,000 t available. This is considerably underutilised by home sources, so as in the past considerable quantities of used plastics packaging are being imported from adjacent foreign countries. The objective of the VKRÖ and their associated recycling specialists is to promote vigorously the most comprehensive system of plastics reutilisation possible, which is based on material recycling.