The contribution of waste and bottom ash treatment to the circular economy of metal packaging: A case study from Austria

Abstract

The EU defined recycling rate targets for aluminum and ferrous metal packaging wastes. According to the European Commission, aluminum and ferrous metal packaging recovered through waste sorting and bottom ash treatment can also be considered for target achievement, in addition to separate collection. Lack of data causes that many countries don't report these recovered amounts. This study determined the aluminum and ferrous metal packaging recovered by waste sorting and bottom ash treatment and the contribution of these amounts to the recycling rate in Austria by material flow analysis. Results show that waste sorting and incineration bottom ash treatment increases the recycling rate of aluminum packaging from 33 % to 58 % and of ferrous metal packaging from 65 % to 93 %. The recycling rate for the sum of metal packaging thus increases from 53 % to 80 %. Data-improvement is required for future calculation of recycling rates of metal packaging.