Eco(ol) insights from Vienna

From electrical scooters to multiple-use glühwein (mulled wine) cups, Vienna is certainly a destination for environment friendly people who wish to reduce their negative impact and live more sustainably.

This was my second time trip to Vienna and as such, I was able to partially immerse in the environment friendly culture and notice how the city facilitates the eco-friendly attitude.

In this post I will share with you my experience and eco(ol) observations and hope to trigger your reflection of the sustainable practices in your city and how they can be improved.

Zero Waste stores

In Vienna you can find several zero-waste stores where you can shop free from plastic package products as well as sustainable ones, such as bamboo toothbrushes, ear buds and kitchen brushes, multiple use tampon pads and recyclable kitchen sponges. Bulk products include soap, oats, nuts, pasta, teas and even gummy bears. One can find as well local vegetables and fruits from certified farms. And if you forgot your shopping tote bag, it's always possible to purchase multiple use bags and pouches made from recycled materials or organic cotton.

The store I visited during my stay in Vienna was Lieber Ohne (translated Rather without) and they provide all of the mentioned above. And other than that, they propose lunch menus and coffee to go (preferably served in your portable coffee cup :)).

Another store I wanted to visit during our stay was Lunzers Maß-Greißlerei, which was unfortunately closed between the holidays :( This is actually a grocery store-a-like supermarket, where you can shop everyday products without packaging for a full environment conscious experience. And you can also find freshly baked bread, breakfast, lunch and coffee.

Their philosophy is based on the fact that recycling is not always the answer. Multiple-use products have an ecological advantage, since only a small portion of single-use materials get recycled and even though, the process of recycling generates carbon emissions. These cons can be easily avoided by converting to multiple-use materials.

Basically the store offers all of the every-day products such as local vegetables and fruits, nuts, oils, teas and biological cleaning agents. The concept is to brig your own container, for example a jar, which you can fill according to your taste, and even if you don't have one, the store of course offers visitors to purchase a container.

I also really enjoy the marketing approach in their site, based on trendy colours and artistic visuals, so common for the Viennese contemporary culture.

If you're interested about other zero-waste stores in Vienna, you can check out this guide.

Christmas trees disposal

Since our visit to Vienna was just after Christmas, I was able to notice how the Christmas tree waste was managed around the city.

In fact, the municipal department of Vienna, MA 48, responsible for the waste management, arranges temporary Christmas tree collecting points, advertised with the slogan "Without tinsel it would be nicer" (Kein Lametta wäre netter). These collecting points can be found via an application or in the site of the administration.

After being collected the Christmas trees are then recycled or reused in the form of generated energy or manuring for local farms, according to the governmental press of Vienna.

Another way of reusing leftover Christmas trees is donating them to the local zoo, which Viennese citizens have a way of doing apparently. It was really fun to witness elephants munching on left over Christmas trees for lunch and actually enjoying them at the Vienna Schonbrun zoo park .

Christmas markets

Weihnachtsmarkets or Christmas markets are traditional for Vienna and are actually pretty amazing! From the mesmerizing light decorations to hand-made crafts and delicious traditional food, it's a must-see and an experience available only during the holidays.

But other than amazing, Christmas markets in Vienna are also trying to be more sustainable. For example, mulled wine is offered in ceramic mugs, which are with different designs according to the market. When you bye mulled wine, you also give a deposit for the mug, so you can return it afterwards or keep it as a souvenir. No single use plastic cups and no limit mulled wine, yeey!

Also, fast food dishes such as bratkartoffeln, wursts, raclette toasts and every other dish are served with a paper tray, not a plastic one.

Sustainable urban culture

Vienna is a city, which emphasizes a lot on sustainable solutions and eco-friendly practices. Besides the containers for recycling, which are conveniently positioned in the city, in the central area of Vienna, plastic bottles are manually collected from all-waste bins. I believe that this is because most of the tourists don't have recycling habits, contrary to Viennese citizens. Even in the Airbnb we stayed, there were instructions on how to separate the trash while living in the apartment.

Vienna is a vibrant city with a lot of energy consumption and as such, aspires eliminating the carbon footprint of the generation of energy by implementing sustainable solutions. For example, Wien Energie, the city owned energy provider targets to increase renewable energy consumption by 40% until 2030, according to the press. Viennese are impelled to invest in community-funder solar plower plants which would develop solar energy generation in the city.

Furthermore, alarmed by climate change and massive energy consumption in cities in general, Vienna inspires for creative solutions through exhibitions, one of which explores future potential scenarios for energy transition, held in the Technical Museum of Vienna.

Another project I discovered during the writing of this article, is the Smarter Together EU funded project, aiming to implement environmental friendly solutions grouped around five areas: Citizen Engagement, District Heating and Renewables, Holistic Refurbishment, Smart Data and E-mobility into several neighborhoods in Vienna, Munich and Lyon, referred to as Lighthouse cities. The solutions would be firstly implemented there and afterwards results would be monitored in order to assess the impact.

With this information, the key findings would be replicated into three follower cities, one of which is Sofia, my home town, in different urban and institutional environments. Can't wait for this to happen!

For now, action is running in Lighthouse cities only. So in Vienna have been installed for example, new solar systems, e-car, e-bike sharing points and e-taxis. You can find more information about that here or watch the video below for an overall view of the project.

Transportation

Other than electrical vehicles, in Vienna are available traditional bike stations as well.

But frankly speaking, when it's cold and for longer distances, taking a bike is not always the first choice of the majority of people. So another way of transportation that I find very innovative are electrical scooters, which are available everywhere. This meaning there are no stations - one can just take a scooter where available and return it at the most convenient place. No need for pedaling for a long time and arriving sweaty at the final destination. It's very commonly used.

The metro also brings a good impression, even though it's a bit pricey. But it's obvious why - clean, on time and convenient. And because we used mostly the metro, we had to take several tickets but it turns out it's only possible to purchase 24h, 48h and 72h tickets, which you don't need to validate every time. Talk about time efficiency and paper savings!

Finally, if you visit Vienna, you'll immediately understand why it's been named the best city for living in the world for its quality of life... for the ninth time!

I believe that correctly assessing the needs of the citizens and actually applying effective and innovative solutions to environmental issues, which on its own has an international impact, is probably the key to success. Of course it's not that simple as it sounds.

If you're interested more about how the city handles waste management, you can also refer to this video.

I hope my article was interesting for you and if so, don't hesitate to like, share or subscribe to my mailing list to receive the newest posts. Also, feel free to share in the comment section your view on this article and why not add an example of a sustainable urban solution in your city!