English Information

The Dismantling- and Recyling-Center

Your scrap is our business!

The DRZ (Dismantling and Recycling Center) is a socio-economic enterprise run by „Die Wiener Volkshochschulen GmbH“. Through the refurbishment and recycling of used and waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), job-seeking people get the opportunity to return to a regular working life. While employed at the DRZ under time bound contracts, the employees receive supervision from experienced professionals in order to improve individual strength, reduce social isolation, overcome possible personal handicaps and provide active support to seek a new job.

These services are provided on behalf of the AMS-Wien (Employment Centre Vienna). Based on our products and services we have established reliable partnerships with several private enterprises and the municipal administration.

Our main partners for co-operation

are the City of Vienna and the Repair Network Vienna (Reparatur-Netzwerk Wien). Our total throughput of e-waste includes parts of the WEEE (small and large household appliances) collected at Vienna’s amenity sites, which we recycle and feed into material recovery processes. Further, some of our long-term clients are organizations and enterprises like The Austrian Ministry of Environment, Öko-Businessplan Vienna, Kontrollbank, Vienna Stock Exchange, the newspaper „Der Standard“ or Boehringer Ingelheim.

As certified EMAS-enterprise und specialised waste management company we constantly monitor and improve our daily processes and procedures to keep them at the state of the art. Numerous environmental and design awards point out our company's performance and uniqueness.

Quality tested Re-Use-equipment

New life to used electrical and electronic equipment!

In the Re-Use department of the DRZ re-usable appliances get tested, refurbished and are sold as tested Re-Use-appliances with warranty. These appliances have been disposed of at Vienna’s amenity sites, but still work flawlessly or can be easily refurbished following specific repair procedures. We sell the Re-Use appliances directly in our own store, but also closely cooperate with the MA48.

In our store you can find:

Refurbished and tested IT and audio appliances
Components and spare parts
Excellent customer service and advisory

All reusable appliances undergo a standardized safety check, get thoroughly cleaned and comprehensively tested before being put up for sale.

Preparations for reutilisation in line with the EU Waste Directive 2008

We are a proactive cooperation partner and through our expertise and experience actively contribute to existing and newly emerging ReUse initiatives. With our partners The City of Vienna (MA48) and the ReparaturNetzwerk Wien we work on the establishment of a reliable Vienna wide network, in which reusable devices will be categorized separately, tested and get repaired in order to be sold as highquality 2nd hand products.

As a member of the RepaNet we push for the development and establishment of an unified quality standard for other entire Austrian ReUse market.

trash_design: Creative upcycling

From trash to design!

trash_design represents a very unique approach to recycling. Through innovative procedures and creative design elegant jewellery, unique furniture, accessories and trophies evolve from WEEE. The materials used are mainly obtained from electrical and electronic devices which have been dismantled in-house.Creative ideas for new designs often originate from project participants and are then developed further and implemented by our creative and technical staff.

Washing machine drums become stylish tables and stools, electronic circuit boards turn into trendy wall clocks and fashionable jewellery and electric wires become colourful bracelets and necklaces.

Every single piece is handcrafted and therefore unique. While buying one of our handicrafts you are not only acquiring a desirable object of art but you are also contributing to a responsiity.

Do you want to sell parts of our product range in your own shop?
Are you looking for unique trophies made from recycled materials?
Are you looking for trendy presents or fancy Christmas gifts for your customers?
Are you an entrepreneur and would you like to decorate your premises with individually designed furniture?

We are looking forward to you enquiries!
Email: trashdesign@vhs.at

What we offer: Environmental and social sustainable disposal service!

On the road for you!

You are looking for a reliable partner to collect obsolete electrical and electronic equipment (also in small amounts) directly from your premises, who also provides you with the required certificate of disposal?
You want to make sure that your disposed appliances get recycled in an environmental and social responsible mannerDo you need a proof of safedata deletion and destruction for some storage devices?
Would you like to set an example in disposing of your WEEE in the most environmentally socially sustainable way and would you like to document this in your sustainability- and/or environmental reports?

Get in touch with us! We are happy to provide an offer based on your individual requirements!

Your scrap becomes a resource!

As certified waste collection and treatment facility we are glad to accept and process used and waste electrical and electronic equipment as well as other bulky waste. Large and small household equipment are manually disassembled by our staff in the dismantling department. Cooling appliances, various screens and lamps are sent to partner companies for recovery of recyclable materials.

Optimized utilization of used appliances!

Through the manual dismantling process of used appliances it is ensured that all components are free from toxic materials and recyclable materials are reutilized in the most effective way. Further, we extract components with high density of valuable materials in manner to ensure a highest recovery rate of gold, silver palladium and others as secondary raw materials.