60 million returnable containers

Fateful day for controversial interim storage facility

All deposit bottles and cans in Tyrol and Vorarlberg are to be processed in the Starkenbach industrial estate in Schönwies. Noise and stench are feared.

(Bild: Daum Hubert)

(Bild: Daum Hubert)

All deposit containers from the whole of Tyrol and Vorarlberg, an estimated 60 million a year, are to be temporarily stored in the Schönwies industrial estate. Thursday was a landmark day: negotiations are underway in Schönwies as well as in Vienna. 

The new one-way deposit system. From January, all labeled disposable plastic bottles and aluminum cans will be subject to a deposit so that they can ultimately be recycled. In principle, this is a good thing for the environment, but not for some of the residents of the Starkenbach district of Schönwies. They handed over more than 400 signatures to the Landeck district authority and want to prevent a hub from being built in their industrial area.

We fear noise and odor nuisance and a breeding ground for pests.

Harald Peham, Mitinitiator der Unterschriftenaktion

60 million empty containers expected in Starkenbach
To explain: the investment of expensive reverse vending machines is not reasonable for smaller sellers such as snack stands, restaurants, bars, bakeries etc.. This is why these retailers collect the deposit containers in bags and return them to their drinks retailers with the next delivery. They are stored there temporarily until they are collected by EWP Recycling Pfand Österreich, the company responsible for the nationwide one-way deposit system, and transported by truck to a central counting and sorting facility.

For the center of Tyrol and Vorarlberg, two empty halls in the Starkenbach industrial estate, which belongs to the Bodner company, are to be rented by the operator EWP. An estimated 60 million returnable bottles and cans will first be counted by machine, sorted and then pressed into bales. The bales would then be transported by truck to the Austrian center in Müllendorf, around 550 km away - so much for the system.

To date, all expert reports have confirmed that our type of trade is completely harmless and does not cause any relevant noise or odor.

EWP-Geschäftsführer Simon Parth

"We are talking about a maximum of 15 trips per day"
"We fear noise and odor nuisance and a breeding ground for pests," says Starkenbach resident Harald Peham, co-initiator of the petition. EWP Managing Director Simon Parth does not understand the uproar. "All expert reports to date have confirmed that our type of business is completely harmless and does not cause any relevant noise or odor," he writes in a statement. Around half of the bottles, for example, are water bottles anyway. On the subject of noise, it should be mentioned that only between seven and 15 deliveries are to be expected every day and only one or two per week for collection, i.e. after pressing. Moreover, this would take place on the plant road outside the residential area.

We will, of course, use the railroad for intermodal transport. This means that we will drive to the nearest container terminal in Tyrol, load onto the train there and then drive to our plant in the east of Austria

EWP

The head of the village of Mils, Bernhard Schöpf, allegedly consulted by citizens who fear additional traffic, is also involved in the debate and generally calls for transportation by rail. "We will, of course, use rail for intermodal transport. This means that we will drive to the nearest container terminal in Tyrol, load onto the train there and then drive to our plant in the east of Austria," says EWP. However, the company's own system graphics on the website show nothing of the sort.

Since the plans for the counting and sorting plant became known, BM Reinhard Raggl has had to use his cell phone even more intensively.

(Bild: Daum Hubert)

Pointing the way: two negotiations today
Much ado about nothing? The municipal council and EWP met again on Monday. "Nothing has changed in terms of the figures," says Reinhard Raggl, "I am neutral, the municipality has no party status. Of course we take the residents' concerns seriously, but I also trust the experts."

They will be at work on Thursday, when the oral hearing takes place as part of the approval procedure under the Waste Management Act. And on exactly the same day, a hearing is scheduled at the Federal Administrative Court in Vienna in the same case. A company has lodged a complaint against the award of the contract for "Lot 5" (Tyrol and Vorarlberg). However, Landeck's district governor Geiger knew nothing about this hearing. So it could also mean: back to the start.