Research

The EU Circular Economy Package stipulates significantly higher recycling rates than are currently achieved in Austria – this poses a major challenge, particularly in urban areas. Various studies have already identified key parameters that explain significant differences in terms of both quantity and composition as well as collection rates. These include state legal frameworks, the local waste management situation, socioeconomic factors, and the structure of the waste disposal area. The aim of the study is to * analyze the relationships between urban settlement structures and the achievable collection rates for waste materials, * identify explanatory factors for differences between (large) urban and other settlement structures and, if possible, quantify them, and * compile scientifically sound, comprehensible statements on this subject.

On the basis of the developed guidelines for the collection of data on food waste in South Tyrol in accordance with the EU reporting requirement, a basis for possible EU-compliant methods to be applied is now available. The methodological spectrum based on the EU requirements ranges from direct measurements, mass balances, questionnaires, coefficients and waste sorting analyzes. Particularly in the case of stages 1) restaurants and food services and 2) private households, the challenge is that the share of food waste can only be determined using complex methods, since food waste is mixed with other (non-food) waste and since the origin by industry cannot be determined directly. The aim of the project is to develop a survey tool for the efficient planning and evaluation of food waste analyses in restaurants, tourism and private households. This tool should allow for the efficient planning of weighing and sorting analyses of mixed municipal waste (residual waste) and bio-bin material, whereby the requirements for representativeness and sufficient, expected accuracy of the results should be met, while keeping the number and mass of samples as low as possible in terms of analysis costs. The expected result is an MS Excel ©-based survey tool that will enable the preliminary investigation (i.e. input of regional baseline data), the determination of the required sample mass and number of individual samples, the representative drawing of the individual samples, input or transfer of the analysis data and the evaluation.

In 2023, the Institute for Wastemanagement and Circularity at the BOKU-University, in collaboration with Tafel Österreich, developed a traveling exhibition to prevent food waste. In its first year, it reached more than 5,000 students. The traveling exhibition has already shown great success in an initial evaluation and has been proven to expand the knowledge of visitors and spark interest in the topic among students between the ages of 11 and 17. An evaluation of the teaching units (worksheets and workshops) shows that the students' own parents are the most important point of contact for them, but it is not known how they can be reached most effectively in terms of reach and knowledge transfer. The following research questions will therefore be addressed in the project. How many parents are informed by their children about the exhibition and what information do they receive? Can the reach of knowledge transfer be increased by providing targeted information to parents in advance? How can a change in behavior in households be promoted and improved in the future after awareness-raising teaching has been implemented? Are there ways to actively involve the children's families?