Austria chooses Sensoneo tech for national DRS launch in 2025

25 Jan 2024 --- Austria is introducing a deposit return system (DRS) for single-use beverage containers starting January 2025. The central body of Austrian DRS, Recycling Pfand Österreich, has chosen Sensoneo to deploy the IT solution that will serve as the central infrastructure for the entire DRS. 

PET bottles and metal cans of 0.1 to 3 liters will be collected through the DRS, with a deposit of €0.25 (US$0.27). The products will be identified by the deposit logo and can be returned to all sales outlets at which they are sold. 

“From a process point of view, Sensoneo’s DRS solution covers all critical pillars of the implementation process and operation itself — ongoing project management, workshops, configuration, customization, data migration, training, testing, go-live phase, a service desk, data reporting and finance,” a Sensoneo spokesperson tells Packaging Insights. 

“The end-to-end and ready-to-integrate software for DRS gathers data from all sources and enables seamless integration between all stakeholders within the process chain. The software is built on cloud-based infrastructure and is agnostic with any return vending machine.”

The country aims for an 80% collection rate shortly after the DRS deployment in 2025.“Big” potential to reach goals
Currently, Austria collects 70% of single-use beverage packaging for recycling purposes. The country’s main goal is to reach an 80% collection rate shortly after deployment of the DRS in 2025 and 90% in 2027. 

Austria is the sixth country to have chosen the software solution from Sensoneo. The company reportedly won all the last six public tenders for DRS in Europe, among them the world’s largest centralized DRS in Romania, besides the DRS systems in Slovakia, Malta, Ireland and Hungary. 

“The IT system for Slovak DRS was implemented in only 10 months, currently reaching 93% in recycling rates. Sensoneo has also implemented the world’s largest centralized DRS with almost 80.000 collection points in Romania by the end of 2023,” says the spokesperson.

They conclude that Austria has a big potential to reach its recycling goals, “as there already exists a good culture of collection and recycling of plastic bottles among the public.”

By Natalie Schwertheim