Year after year, more and more rubbish accumulates around the holidays. Wrapping paper, packaging and rockets also contribute to this.
Christmas and New Year’s ensure overflowing rubbish bins in Vorarlberg. Every year, the holidays are a busy time for refuse collectors and disposers.
“In general, the amount of waste from Christmas to Epiphany is higher on average than in the other weeks of the year,” Reinhard Pierer explained when asked by VOL.AT. He is Head of Corporate Trading Reusables at Loacker Recycling.
Reinhard Pierer from Loacker Recycling.
©Oliver Lerch
Ten percent more waste paper
“We notice that with waste paper, with around ten percent more volume in these two weeks compared to the rest of the year,” he explains. “This is certainly due to the wrapping paper and the cardboard packaging under the Christmas tree.”
Ten percent more waste paper is generated around the holidays.
©Icon image: Canva Pro
Thirty percent more waste glass
It is also noticeable that the people of Vorarlberg like to pop the corks on the public holidays: “In the case of waste glass, we have an average of over thirty percent more in these two weeks than in the rest of the week average.”
Over 30 percent more waste glass comes together in two weeks.
© Symbolic image: APA/dpa
New Year’s waste difficult to measure
The waste caused by rockets and the like on New Year’s Eve is not so easy to measure. After all, it ends up in nature after being fired, Pierer explains. “In the country, however, there is the annual landscape cleaning, in which we at Loacker Recycling also participate, and here around 150 tons of waste are collected in the communities every year,” he explains. “Unfortunately, we can’t say how much of it is waste from New Year’s Eve activities.”
After New Year’s Eve there is also a lot of rubbish.
©Roland Paulitsch
Correct disposal important
In view of the amount of rubbish that accumulates, the question arises as to what is worse “in terms of rubbish” – Christmas or New Year’s Eve. Pierer says: “I don’t want to judge whether Christmas or New Year’s is “worse” – it’s important that we have the right collection and recycling systems in Vorarlberg and Austria to properly recycle the waste that arises, depending on the type of waste. “
