Study shows: Valuable raw materials hidden in households due to lack of recycling

Sell, donate, dispose of or recycle: The Austrian waste management companies are calling on the population to clean out. A recent VOEB study shows that 80 percent of Austrians keep clothes, mobile phones, children's toys or household appliances even though they are no longer needed. The circular economy thus misses out on valuable raw materials. Gen Z are collection masters, the baby boomer generation are disposal professionals.

It is not only around Christmas that many items at home become obsolete because they have been replaced by new ones. But what happens to them? In a representative study* commissioned by the Association of Austrian Waste Management Companies (VOEB), 90 percent of the respondents confirmed that it is important to correctly separate, dispose of and then recycle all items that are no longer needed. This is important for reasons of space (47%), in the sense of an ecological circular economy (45%) and as a contribution to environmental protection (38%) and to saving energy (36%). In practice, however, only 20% of Austrians consistently part with everything they no longer need. Four out of ten respondents hoard mobile phones they no longer need at home.

"Items such as mobile phones contain valuable waste materials that we could recover through recycling," explains Gabriele Jüly, President of the VOEB. "They are then returned to the economic cycle as so-called secondary raw materials and form an important resource for the production of new products." Therefore, the VOEB calls on all Austrians to bring items that are no longer needed to separate collection or to appropriate used material collection centres.

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