By Amanda Suutari

In 1988, Vienna was incinerating 62%, and dumping the other 38%, of its household wastes. The city had two incinerators and a landfill site, and officials were expecting increases in garbage without any plans to build new incinerators or landfills in the next few decades, so a few of the more responsible members of the city government began looking for alternatives. The city began to separate collection of paper, glass, metal, plastics, and finally "biowaste" (kitchen waste).

Studies at a local institute had shown that composting had potential to save the city money, and the municipal parliament granted funds for the initial investment. The goal was to have a system that was cheap and user-friendly. It was understood that the system would not work without public support and commitment, so information leaflets about the collection service and backyard garden composting were printed in 11 languages and widely distributed, and an information service and phone line were set up to answer questions. The challenge was making high quality compost with low heavy metal content that could be used in gardens and organic farms.

The composting plant went into operation in 1992, and the city set up collection sites called Biotonnes which were distributed in the streets so that each one would serve 65 inhabitants, and one Biotonne would theoretically be found within a distance of 35-40 meters from each residence. The contents were collected weekly on average.

At the same time, some city agricultural estates began to move towards organic farming, which meant the composting system would be well-timed to replace the commercial fertilizers and pesticides the farms had been using. These farms set up some do-it-yourself projects where citizens could join in organic farming with experts. The results:

1. The annual diversion from the landfills is 90,000 tons, generating a savings of US$10,000,000 a year; this is more than 10% of Vienna's total waste collected.
2. Farm estates have converted 230 hectares to organic farming, using 2,500 tons of compost. Some of the vegetables grown there are sold in local markets.
3. Some of the compost is given to residents for their gardens.
4. Using the compost has caused the number of earthworms to increase, and has helped reduce the amount of disease and pests in crops.
5. The program has been presented at international congresses, which has attracted interest from politicians and technicians especially from Central/Eastern Europe.
6. The system is self-sufficient, i.e., costs are covered by city taxes for waste collection.

Benefits or services restored

Waste management, savings, fueled interest in organic farming, composting, and the environment, set the standard for the rest of Austria whose own municipalities are in varying stages of improving waste management, its close proximity to rapidly developing Eastern Europe (where there has been some interest) provides an alternate model to the Western throwaway society.

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