Mechanical-biological treatment of waste: current developments

In 2005, 16 mechanical-biological treatment plants were in operation with a treatment capacity of approximately 669,000 tones. One plant was in the process of being built and two facilities were being planned. This means that Austria has made a successful step in the direction of decentralized facilities for the pre-treatment of waste before landfill. The mechanicalbiological treatment of waste and of municipal waste in particular, is now firmly established as an alternative, and complementary, method to thermal treatment.