Exploring good circular practices in Austria
In the very start of December, partners of the ECOLE project explored good practices of circular economy in the Austrian part of Styria. RRA LUR gathered with partners from four other Alpine countries – Italy, Austria, Germany, and France at the Innovation Center Weiz. During the working visit, we also visited the industrial area Preding-Süd, which operates as a connected entity due to efficient management, showcasing admirable practices of resource-efficient management.
Within the ECOLE project, partners strive to accelerate the transition of industrial parks in the Alpine region to a circular and resource-efficient economy. Our aim is to improve the image of industrial parks as polluters, while also contributing to companies’ better coping with rising energy costs.
In the town of Weiz, located in the vicinity of Graz, with a population of 12,000 and a well-developed industry, the Ecole project partners were initially addressed by the mayor, Erwin Eggenreich. He emphasized the exceptional collaboration between the municipality, industry, and the manager of the Preding Süd area, Innovationszentrum Weiz. Roman Neubauer and Stephan Pessl, as leading representatives of this management service, presented some basic strategies. New companies are strategically positioned near existing transport connections and, most importantly, connections to public transportation. Investors are required to cover roofs with photovoltaic cells and green roofs, and the company must connect to district heating, which the municipality derives 100% from biomass – 50% of the connection investment is covered by the municipality, and 50% by the investor.
To increase the attractiveness of the municipality for investments, the Weiz municipality has joined forces with the neighboring municipality, St. Ruprecht. Together, they attract companies for investments in the area. When a company decides to build a facility in one of the two municipalities, that municipality receives 70% of the tax from the company in the following years, while the other municipality receives 30%. This way, they ensure the development of the entire region, as employees do not only live in one municipality. Upon the arrival of a new company, they ensure cooperation and local partnerships, allowing the company to integrate into the local community as much and as quickly as possible.
An interesting fact in the Weiz municipality is that the staff for communal services (waste collection, garden and environment maintenance, water supply, winter services, repairs, road works, bulky waste removal) and tasks like forestry work, cemetery maintenance, assembly and disassembly work at events, parking lot maintenance, are employed by the municipality. The municipality employs just over 90 people who ensure that the city remains in good condition.
The visit continued with an interesting tour of the municipally-owned wastewater treatment plant, where the cities of Weiz, Naas, and Mortantsch use an advanced 3-stage process for wastewater treatment. Both sewage and rainwater are collected and initially cleaned by a mechanical process to remove sludge, followed by a biological process to thoroughly purify the water. The sludge is further processed into biofuel, while the water is used by three nearby companies for heating with a heat pump. These companies were purposefully built next to the communal center with the aim of using wastewater for heating and cooling, especially for data servers. One of the users is the company Energie Steiermark, which vividly demonstrated the established system. The constant water temperature throughout the year, ranging from 10° to 20°, is invaluable for efficient energy utilization.
As part of the best practices presentation, we got acquainted with impressive initiatives of the company Craiss Logistik in the Preding-Süd area. Their commitment to carbon neutrality by 2028 is evident in their new logistics center, emphasizing resource conservation, environmentally friendly operations, and energy-efficient infrastructure. They use electric trucks that currently cost three times more than convetional ones, but the company believes that changes must start there. They also pay attention to environmentally friendly daily operations; for example, used cardboard packaging from deliveries is reused and dispatched with biodegradable tape. Organic waste is composted on-site, and employees use the obtained soil for their own gardening. The company also operates an association, consisting of 60 employees who rotate every two years. They dedicate a few hours each month to developing ideas in the fields of environmental protection and corporate culture, which they then implement.
The second day was entirely devoted to interactive workshops for advancing the achievement of project results, making the visit very productive overall and offering an excellent opportunity to better understand the industrial zones of our partners.
