Hazardous household waste management in Ukraine and Austria

Hazardous household waste is one of the most problematic categories in household waste. The careless disposal of this waste might result in the leaching of many contaminants. Austria has an extensive system of hazardous household waste management, while Ukraine has an inefficient waste management system and very limited statistical data available. To estimate the performance of hazardous household waste management, an analysis of various open sources was carried out. In Austria, hazardous household waste is usually collected separately: through many stationary and mobile collection points. In Ukraine, there are very few local initiatives of collecting only the most common hazardous household waste (e.g., lamps, batteries, mercury-containing thermometers). Hazardous household waste generation in Austria is found to be much higher comparing to Ukraine despite much lower population. In Austria and Ukraine both, about half accounts for old paints, varnishes, solvents, and waste batteries. Only 20% of hazardous household waste in Ukraine is collected separately, while Austria has much higher rate—about 65%. Still thousands of tons of hazardous household waste are found in residual waste: in both Austria and Ukraine. The strong differences in amounts generated waste suggest that official data on hazardous household waste generation in Ukraine are probably underestimated.