Legal Context
In Austria glass bottles have been collected since the 1970’s. In the 1980’s the amount of glass collected for recycling increased steadily. Since 1993 it has remained constantly around 200,000 tons, which is more than 80 % of glass bottles in circulation in Austria.
Austria Glas Recycling (AGR) provides the systems and services concerning the recycling of waste glass all over Austria to accomplish Austria’s Packaging Ordinance (Verpackungsverordnung), released in 1993. Companies affected by the Packaging Ordinance are: manufacturers, importers and dealers of glass packaging, fillers and packers. Paying a recycling fee exempts them from their legal responsibilities under the Packaging Ordinance.
The recycling fee is calculated yearly and has to be remitted to a trustee company Altstoff Recycling Austria (ARA) that transfers it to AGR. As AGR is a non-profit organization, earnings are used to reduce the next year´s recycling fee.