Page 60 - Waste-to-Energy in the Danube Strategy Region. Challenges and Prospects

4.2 Political & legislative challenges

Political support and a clear legislative framework with fixed goals are an effective way to develop

the WtE sector. Common challenges in the DSR include poor implementation of EU waste policies,
insufficient support in national politics, poor legislative coverage of WtE, ongoing debates

concerning landfilling laws, and postponement of laws coming into force. In the case of Austria,

however, such impediments are not present, as indicated by its management of MSW. Austria
already landfills less than the EU target of 10% of municipal waste (3% in 2016) and recycles 59%,

while the remaining 38% is used for energy recovery (European Parliament 2018). This is the result

of policies with roots in Austria’s Waste Management Guidelines from the year 1988 (CEWEP

2018a; Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management 2015).
Austrian efforts to develop WtE were motivated by two factors. Landfills and waste

treatment generally were recognized as unecological in the 1980s, and a working solution was

already observable in neighbouring Germany, where legislative and practical efforts started ten

years earlier. As a result, the Austrian Ministry of the Environment, Youth and Family introduced
in 1988 the Guidelines for Waste Management in Austria, which were based on Swiss Guidelines

for Waste Management. In addition to supporting environmental compatibility and resource

efficiency, the aim was to minimize the landfilling of untreated waste over the next 10–15 years

(Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management 2015; Ossberger
1997).

Debates about subsidies for WtE systems were prominent between 1988 and 1996.

Ultimately, the decision was made not to subsidize WtE projects. This outcome was largely due to

a lack of consensus regarding which waste treatment technologies were optimal for resolving the
waste problem. Nevertheless, the Waste Management Act of 1990 established a waste hierarchy

as a guiding principle for waste management and introduced economic instruments such as the

deposit refund system. Although further reduction in landfilling was promoted, the rules

introduced by the Act were gradual and kept restrictions and limits to a minimum in order to give
citizens and the economy time to adapt (OECD 2017, Ossberger 1997).

Project co-funded by the European Union
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