Tyrolean app rewards eco-conscious travelers when shopping – Vorarlberger Nachrichten

More and more companies are rewarding customers with a points system for climate-friendly behaviour. The mobility app ‘ummadum’ developed in Tirol wants to change everyday commuting behavior with what the founders describe as a ‘globally unique model’. It awards points to eco-conscious travelers, who can then use them to shop at regional stores. Saubermacher in Styria also awarded points for cleanly separated waste in a pilot project.

The two examples have one thing in common: people have to be “alert” comically to behave in a more climate-friendly manner, and in technical jargon, this is called a “green alert.” In an interview with APA, the founder of the Tyrolean Amadome, Rene Shader, explained why this makes particular sense with regard to mobility: Greener mobility requires a change in behavior that goes hand in hand with rethinking. There is often resistance. Instead of scaring passengers with climate protection measures, they count on bonuses that also benefit the local economy, Shader says.

Austria is a commuter country. According to Austria statistics, about 2.5 million workers are on the move. From 2001 to 2017, their share increased from 45 to 60 percent. About a third of the employees work in the four most important economic centers of Austria – Vienna, Graz, Linz and Salzburg. On average, only one person is seated in a passenger car. This leads not only to traffic jams, but also to a lot of exhaust fumes and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. When measured against current fuel prices, it’s also expensive per capita, Shader emphasized.

Shader noted that if you want to find a sustainable solution to the traffic problem, you don’t have to monitor individual passengers, but rather on the “big picture”. That’s why its app initially depicts traffic flows. People driving in the same direction at the same time are connected via the platform.

However, the concept also includes companies and communities because they can help shape structures. Shader said more than 100 businesses and communities will now purchase a so-called “mobility budget” of points from Amadom and make them available to their employees or residents. Just over 150,000 users are now active on the platform – about four years after it was founded.

Shader explained that potential users should be reached “outside the everyday information channel” through “extraordinary communication channels”. By including around 100 local businesses in this concept, you not only create an ‘extra touch point’ to educate consumers about more eco-friendly mobility, but also strengthen regional added value. Because the Amadome point has the equivalent of one cent in fixed euros and can be used directly when shopping – for example at the Tyrolean MPreis supermarket chain – directly at checkout.

The founder of the company said that it all started with the Swarovski crystal group based in Wattens in Tirol, two communities and a hospital. At the time, Shader recalls, they were still proactively approaching the companies. In the meantime, it is different, and “Adam” is contacted directly by several companies. The company has been represented throughout Austria since 2019 and in Italy since 2021. Expansion in Switzerland is in preparation, in the second half of 2022 they want to roll out the model in Germany. We are already receiving inquiries from companies from there. The founder of the company said, we now call ourselves a “movement”, not without pride.

The company “Saubermacher” in Styria also rewarded more climate-friendly behavior as part of the “Digi-Cycle” pilot project implemented in 2021 – collecting plastic bottles and cans in the municipality of Gnas in southeast Styria. About 15,000 drinks with QR codes affixed to them were distributed during promotional days at Gnaser Hauptplatz, including a yellow bag with its own QR code. There was also an easy-to-use application for processing. About every sixth of the household participated, which project managers rated as a high level of participation.

Project itinerary: Through their mobile apps, residents scanned a QR code on the drinks they drank and on appropriate specially labeled waste bins (yellow bag, yellow container, or blue container, note), into which they tossed the packaging. Points are earned with every throw. It can then be exchanged in a bakery. Plastic cans and bottles marked with the code can be disposed of at all Gnas public collection points or in the yellow issued bag.