Vienna – a city of classical music, grand palaces… and green choices!  But is it possible to travel here sustainably? Check my latest Youtube Video to learn more!

Vienna article continues my series of posts about EU recycling infrastructure: so far I’ve added Denmark, Poland and Bulgaria and more to come! I also have non-EU countries recycling rules collected on my website: Montenegro, Serbia, Sakartvelo and many others! Stay tuned on my Instagram and in YouTube not to miss new countries added to the Travel and Recycling Universe.

The recycling rate in Austria is quite high: 58% in 2022 (acc. to Eurostat) and even exceed the average EU recycling rate.

High fines and waste watchers are the prerequisites of clean streets in Austria’s capital: left the dogs 💩 on the lawn or throw the cigarette butt on the street – pay 50 EUR. In more serious cases fines amount can reach up to 2000 EUR!

All municipal waste is sorted into 5 fractions: paper, metals and plastics, glass, bio, and general waste (more details below)

One of the most interesting and unusual attraction for tourists could be Spittelau incineration plant – and I can tell you my opinion: it looks really very unusual modern and cool: definitely NOT like you expect the waste plant to look like.

I did a mistake and did not book a guided tour to Spittelau in advance, but I strongly encourage you to do it. For that check the official Spittelau website, but do not use English version of the cite, instead use auto-translation in your browser. Most probably the tour will be in Dutch, but it should not be a stopper – the most interesting you will see. Please, let me know on my Instagram page if you visit the plant – I will be very interested to hear from you!

Recycling centers in Vienna city are offering the services to sort and recycle bulk or rare waste types. The official municipality map suggests 13 locations of recycling centers: most of them are open from Monday to Saturday from 7AM till 6PM , but better always to check the schedule.

And speaking about bulky and rare waste: I’ve collected rules for Christmas Trees recycling in 30 Europe capitals in one post: check it out if you’re reading this in December-January season! (yes, including Vienna)

Color coding for recycling bins in Vienna can vary depending on design, but in general you can stick to these rules:

• brown/orange for organic (bio);
• red for paper and cardboard;
• blue (for white) and green (for color) glass;
• yellow plastic and metal;
• and black, traditionally, is used for mixed / non-recyclable waste.

(more details about recycling in Vienna will be added soon – stay tuned!)

Mixed waste is collected in black bins and then is primarily managed through incineration at waste-to-energy plant (Spittelau).