A bill submitted to Parliament at the end of December by the Rural Development Minister would establish a state and local government monopoly on residential trash pickup and management from the start of 2013.

The bill would allow only companies majority owned by the state or local councils to undertake residential trash pickup from the start of 2013.

The Austrian companies AVE, Saubermacher and ASA , who control about one-fifth of the trash pickup market in Hungary, are protesting the bill, MTI’s correspondent in Vienna said on Monday.