5000 tons of floating refuse retrieved from Danube

VERBUND power plants clean the Danube: 5000 tons of floating refuse, from tree trunks to fridges were retrieved in Lower Austria alone. As the newly published VERBUND sustainability report indicates, a total of more than 38,000 tons of deadwood to hazardous waste was fished out of Austria's rivers and disposed of.

Along with (often illegally disposed) urban garbage, environmentally dangerous material such as half full or polluted oil cans have to be fished out of the rivers time and again. Especially in the Lower Austrian part of the Danube, due to the flooding, the river produced a record amount of garbage this year. Drifting tree trunks, whose size can be detrimental to turbines, were also among the garbage.

Sustainably Documented

In order to save resources, the VERBUND sustainability report is also available in electronic form. The report can be accessed on www.verbund.com/verantwortung and here provides a comprehensive picture of VERBUND's efforts in the three dimensions involved in sustainability: economics, environment and the social dimension.

Nature Conservation and Local Recreation by the Power Plant

 

Over one third of the surface area of the power plant was declared a conservation area upon completion. The success of this couldn't have been more impressive. With comprehensive renaturation measures such as at the Altenwörth power plant, VERBUND is continuing its success story with hydropower in a consistent way through projects such as Project LIFE+ Traisen or the retrofitting of the Danube power plants with fish ladders. Diverse river landscapes unite the environment's need for more habitat and provide people with a healthy local recreation area.