Starting in January 2025, Sensoneo will power a deposit return system for single-use beverage containers in Austria with its end-to-end IT system.
Only 70% of single-use beverage packaging is currently thought to be collected for recycling in Austria. Its goal is to achieve an 80% collection rate after the DRS is deployed in 2025 and a 90% rate in 2027.
Starting from 1st January 2025, all PET bottles and any metal can with a capacity of 0.1 to 3 litres will be collectable via DRS. Consumers will be charged a deposit of 25 cents when purchasing products bearing a deposit logo, which can be returned to all sales outlets at which they are sold.
Central body EWP Recycling Pfand Österreich has selected Sensoneo’s end-to-end, ready-to-integrate IT system as the central infrastructure of the DRS. It is cloud-based and agnostic with any reverse vending machine.
The system is also said to gather data from all sources to facilitate seamless integration between stakeholders across the process chain.
The transition will make Austria the sixth country to adopt Sensoneo’s DRS solution. Romania has opened almost 80,000 collection points using Sensoneo technology in its own centralized DRS – said to be one of the largest in the world.
Slovakia also made use of the same system. Implemented in ten months, it claimed to reach a recycling rate of 93%.
Meanwhile, TOMRA and central system administrator MOL Hulladékgazdálkodási Zrt. (MOHU) have launched a DRS for single-use drink containers in Hungary. Making use of Sensoneo technology, the system expects to optimize the process of returning used packaging for new recyclers.
Reconomy has also warned Irish businesses that they must be prepared for the upcoming launch of Ireland’s DRS in February 2024.
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