Vienna Greens challenge planned waste centre near Freie Mitte

Vienna’s Greens are challenging plans for a large waste collection centre beside Freie Mitte, a new recreation area in the Nordbahnviertel, ORF Wien reported. The criticism comes as the rezoning process is still under way.

The proposed centre on Innstraße would cover 6,000 square metres and have up to 26 waste-container bays. The city’s MA 48 waste management department plans to open it in 2030.

Residents oppose the location, as do all political parties, including the Leopoldstadt district head, who have backed reopening the former centre on Dresdner Straße in Vienna’s 20th district. It closed in 2020 during the Covid pandemic, and housing is planned around the former site.

Green city councillor Kilian Stark said people could not understand why the old centre had not reopened. He accused the authorities of putting residents under pressure to accept what he called a poor alternative because they urgently needed a waste centre.

Bernhard Seitz, the Greens’ deputy district head in Leopoldstadt, suggested placing parts of the facility near motorway access ramps or the Brigittenauer Bridge. He questioned why storage for road grit or salt had to be next to a local waste collection centre.

MA 48 said it had assessed several locations and found the centre could only be built on an infrastructure plot in front of Freie Mitte.