Zero Waste Austria Kick-Off 

There is a lot of passion and heart behind all Zero Waste-related projects in Austria and therefore a strong motivation for real change. As individuals, everyone is limited to what they can do. Forming a society can use synergies, improve knowledge exchange and make the movement in Austria better heard and respected.

The 15 organisations and 25 people from the first Zero Waste Society Kick-off will stay in touch through Social Media and quarterly meetings with a strong focus an action will be held. If you want to participate, join the next meetup in September, join the Facebook group and or contact Helene for questions, collaborations and general interest.

That's how it all started

The Zero Waste Society Kick-off Meetup took place at the beautiful library of Impact Hub Vienna on Wednesday the 17th of June 2015. Organized and hosted by Helene Pattermann. The goal of the meetup was to bring together all initiatives, projects and people, that are working on creating a Zero Waste Society in Austria. More than 25 people​came and about 15 organisations​were represented at the kick-off.

The agenda

All the projects were shortly presented. We dreamed about how a Zero Waste Society could look like, what we need to make it happen and started the conversations of what actionable steps are necessary and possible.

Zero Waste Projects in Austria

In the picture underneath you see the projects, that were represented at the Zero Waste Society Austria Meetup, and some more that we mentioned, but the list isn't complete, since there is wastecooking, auferstanden, BOKU, BANK FÜR GEMEINWOHL and many more missing. I will keep working on the attempt to get a more accurate overview of the Zero Waste Austria reality.

Helene Pattermann (Zero Waste Austria) and Alexandra Gruber (Wiener Tafel)

Let's dream

I believe to make change happen, you need a concrete dream scenario goal of what a Zero Waste Society should be. In an open floor discussion we imagined our aspirations and what drives us to make the world a better place, in a more sustainable way.

The mantra of Zero Waste “Reduce, reuse, recycle” leads the way and it is the answer to all waste-problems. But how can it be used in the world we live in. It is hard to dream a scenario, without focusing what is needed for that change. In our perfect world scenario there would be other legislations, different consumer expectations, more responsibility, different values, innovative business models. See where our brainstorming took us:

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Not just about Food Waste

Foodwaste is very prominent part of Zero Waste. Zero Waste is not “just” about food waste.

​It is about using all resources wisely. Foodwaste is a very good example of resources being wasted, when they are needed so desperately by so many. And not just on the other end of the world, also in Austria. Apart from better usage of resources, we dream of big changes in productdesign, legislations and rethinking the necessity of immense packaging. A lot of educating, showing alternatives and teaching other values will be necessary for a change.

What do we need to create a Zero Waste Society?

We need to work together.

​Use synergies and help each other out, for a stronger impact. If we contribute to a strong Zero Waste Community, we can reach our goals faster. By doing that we will have more success in changing consumers behavior and we will be heard by the government. Quotes and notes from the meetup: “We do not have to be Einzelkämpfer” “We can share information on digital platforms” “We can use our synergy and depth of experience”

Let's act

We agreed to make sure the interests of the Zero Waste Movement are always represented prominently at a political level. We will identify political figures, who can lobby for change and make sure that Zero Waste Society interests are heard and acted upon. We will prepare something in writing that can be send out and shared.

Next steps

There will be quarterly meetings of the Zero Waste Society Austria, the next will be held on the 16th of September 2015. You can find the event on Facebook, as well as the closed group. Following meetups will have room for short project updates, as well as discussion. There will be experts and special topics to narrow down the conversations to output oriented matters. With a questionnaire, sent to all participants of the first meetup, the goals and agenda for the first year will be lined out.