Circular economy What goes around comes around – the new life of waste
Austrians may be exemplary in the way they separate their waste, but only a few are aware of what happens to all of the collected waste.
“Rund geht’s” was the Geman name of a campaign launched by the Austrian waste industry in early 2017, which threw the spotlight on well-known and not so well-known recycling cycles and examples of best practices in modern recycling management.
Recycling classics like the fact that new glass is produced out of waste glass are well known – but who would have thought that scrap metal could be used to produce wind turbine towers, or that disused electrical appliances might serve as material for plastic housing or even be a source of gold for jewellery?
And it is exactly this variety of possibilities (and the resulting new products) that is at the centre of the “RUND GEHT'S” campaign. The aim is to raise the population's awareness of the fact that waste contains important recyclable fractions and that correct waste separation is of utmost importance.
The campaign was started by the Austrian Water and Waste Management Association (ÖWAV) in cooperation with a number of players working in waste management, the Federal Provinces, the waste associations, the Federal Ministry, the Chamber of Commerce and many private companies. Currently, more than 50 partners across Austria support the initiative.
For more information about the campaign, all recycling examples, facts and figures, see: