"This will be a disaster"

Sausage stand operators are angry about the deposit on cans

Bosna König at the Linz pigeon market

(Bild: Einöder Horst/Horst Einöder/Flashpictures)

The deposit on plastic bottles and beverage cans will come into force on January 1, 2025 - empty containers will then be worth cash and must be collected. This will cause space problems for operators of small snack bars and they also fear considerable additional costs.

"It's going to be a disaster!" moans "Bosna King" Jürgen Auinger, referring to the return of cans and plastic bottles that will be subject to a deposit from January 1, 2025. While retailers are reportedly well prepared for the regulation coming into force, snack bar operators have mixed feelings about the new year.

Only four square meters
"I'm not against environmental protection, but my stand has four square meters. How am I supposed to manage that logistically?" says Auinger, who runs a sausage stand on the busy Taubenmarkt in Linz. While plastic and can waste used to end up in the garbage, compressed into small pieces, deposit containers can only be returned in their "original condition".

Additional effort feared
"I can't imagine our suppliers disposing of it," says Auinger, "I'll probably have to do it myself in the next store." He reckons it will take around six hours a week, "which nobody will pay me for". This is also criticized by Gerold Royda, who has been up in arms about the regulation since it was announced.

"It's going to be exciting"
"We immediately reported that there would be problems. Where should the snack bar operators store the bottles and cans? Who collects them and how often? Storage, issuing a deposit, all additional costs that are not covered by the tampering fee," explains Royda.

Small businesses should be exempt from the take-back obligation and operators should be adequately compensated for the additional work involved.

Gerold Royda, Spartenobmann Tourismus und Freizeitwirtschaft

For Christoph Baur (56), owner of the three Leberkas-Pepi branches in Upper Austria, there is still a lot of uncertainty: "It will certainly be exciting, but I haven't received any information from my suppliers yet." He expects a transitional period and that the initial problem "will get under control".