Virtual recycling centre Centrope

Project Overview: The current state of play shows that the national implementation of the EU directives on the environmentally sound disposal of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and End of Life Vehicles (ELV) differs among European countries. This poses a particular challenge for the Centrope region (covering the eastern parts of Austria and the Czech Republic, as well as the western parts of Slovakia and Hungary), since it makes cross-border cooperation more complicated. With a view to geographic proximity, however, cross-border cooperation suggests itself for these countries, since material flows can be easily transported within the "Vienna Basin", the "Little Hungarian Plain" and neighboring regions. In January 2006, a project called "Recycling Network Centrope" has been set up to intensify the business contacts between Austrian, Hungarian, Slovakian and Czech companies. Primary project objective is to analyze the existing structures of the recycling market in the Centrope region to identify cooperation opportunities for the companies involved. Thus, solutions can be found to mutual problems, by making better use of and sharing the knowledge available in the regions. Solving the existing problems (e.g. recycling of CRT glass, plastics, etc. through joint efforts would cut down recycling costs in Centrope. The project, which was funded by the BMWA/FFG through the CIR-CE "Innovation networks with Central and Eastern Europe" program, involved 14 project partners: seven from Austria, three from Hungary and foud from Slovakia. The project was coordinated by the KERP Kompetenzpartner für Elektro(nik)altgeräte-Recycling (Center of Excellence for Electronic Scrap Recycling and Sustainable Product Design).