Danijel Rakovic began an apprenticeship as a waste disposal and recycling specialist at MGG Polymers in early November 2025. At 35 years of age, he is significantly older than the typical apprentice in Austria. Through adult education, he is achieving what is important to him: a job with meaning and a future.
For Danijel Rakovic, it makes sense to recycle materials rather than dispose of them. He has already been trained on the extruder.
For quite some time, the management of MGG Polymers had wanted to train its own waste disposal and recycling specialist as part of an apprenticeship programme. Although the company had actively advertised the vacant apprenticeship position in the past, it had been unable to fill it. That was until last autumn, when Danijel Rakovic came across one of the advertisements while looking for an apprenticeship and applied to Polymers. One of his first questions was whether it would be possible to complete this apprenticeship as part of a second-chance education programme. The background: at the age of 35, Danijel Rakovic was looking for a new professional challenge and had set his mind on completing an apprenticeship as a waste disposal and recycling specialist. He was invited to Kematen an der Ybbs for a personal interview, received confirmation the following day and started his apprenticeship on 3 November 2025.
Why start an apprenticeship at 35?
After finishing school, Danijel completed an apprenticeship as a chef and worked in the catering industry for a total of eight years. As both the working hours and pay in the industry are not particularly appealing, he took the opportunity to take up a production job at Haribo in Linz when it arose. After a stopover at the Linz Chemical Park, he finally came into contact with waste management and recycling for the first time through a personal referral to the Hasenöhrl company. The subject matter sparked his interest and he continued to develop within the company. He started out in refuse collection, worked on site with excavators and shredders, and eventually got his own department for recycling insulation wool. It seemed that he had found his place in the world of work until a serious slipped disc brought this activity to an abrupt end and forced him to take a year off. During this time, the idea of doing something new began to take shape. After his recovery, he came into contact with the apprenticeship programme for waste disposal and recycling specialists through the AMS. ‘It became clear to me relatively quickly that I wanted to learn this profession. I started looking for an apprenticeship and found one at MGG Polymers in Kematen an der Ybbs,’ he says.
‘We are delighted to have found an apprentice for the vacant position. The fact that it is not a young person but an adult man was not part of the original plan, but ultimately it has turned out to be a stroke of luck for us,’ says Polymers Managing Director Maximilian Hager, expressing his delight at the latest addition to the team. ‘As he has already worked in the recycling industry and now wants to delve deeper into the subject with his apprenticeship, we are convinced that we have found a valuable and loyal employee for our company who has a lot of potential.’
The laboratory is one of the many stations Danijel Rakovic passes through during his training. Here he is currently measuring moisture content.
Win-win situation
When a company takes on a 35-year-old as an apprentice, this presents opportunities not only for the trainee, but also for the company. Adults bring more life experience and a greater sense of responsibility to the table and can usually be integrated into existing work processes more quickly. This maturity is a real advantage for everyone, especially in a recycling company where safety regulations, the operation of complex equipment and the careful handling of materials play a major role. Training an adult can also be economically beneficial for the company, as there are various subsidies that can be applied for to support this. Another important aspect is securing skilled workers in the long term. At Polymers, training an adult is a direct investment in the company’s own young skilled workers.
Apprenticeships are not easy
Normally, the apprenticeship for the profession of ‘waste disposal and recycling specialist’ lasts four years. In Danijel Rakovic’s case, it was shortened to two years due to his industry experience. However, he will still have to attend vocational school. ‘Like every other apprentice, I have to attend school three times for ten weeks at a time,’ says Rakovic. ‘I’m very curious to see how my classmates will react to having a slightly older apprentice in the classroom. But since I’m an easy-going and communicative person, I’m sure it will work out fine.’
Things are also going well with his colleagues at MGG Polymers. Of course, there were lots of questions at the beginning. For example, why would someone do an apprenticeship at the age of 35 when they could work at Polymers without one? From the outset, he was treated with a great deal of respect for his decision to pursue further education. But after a few days, the question of ‘why’ was no longer an issue. The collaboration is working perfectly and Danijel is really enjoying his new job.
He has not yet got to know the entire operation. He changes stations every two weeks.
He has not yet completed his entire training programme. He rotates between departments every two weeks and is currently working in the laboratory, after which he will move on to the warehouse and process engineering. Once he has completed his first rotation at Polymers, he will attend vocational school for two and a half months. ‘I love the variety. Constantly learning new things and broadening my horizons is exactly what I expected,’ says the new apprentice, who is already looking forward to learning the theoretical side of his profession. Once he has completed his apprenticeship, he wants to use the knowledge he has acquired to be a valuable asset to his employer. He already dreams of witnessing innovative developments or – better still – being able to initiate and launch them himself. ‘My goal is to learn about the entire recycling process in the company, with all the background information.’ The plan is for Danijel Rakovic to also get to know the Metran and Metrec sites during his apprenticeship, as his apprenticeship is not limited to plastics. ‘I am lucky to be able to learn in a company like the Müller-Guttenbrunn Group, which is so diverse.’
Training and Personal Life
Unlike most of his younger fellow apprentices, Danijel Rakovic has a family to support. This means he has to budget his apprentice salary carefully. He lives with his partner and their two daughters (aged two and four) in Asten in the Linz-Land district of Upper Austria. From there, he commutes to Kematen an der Ybbs every day. The couple manage their professional and private lives together. Their children come first and still need a lot of attention. There is little time for hobbies at the moment, but every now and then he takes a few hours off to relax while fishing. When he thinks about the future, he feels that he is in good hands with his new job. ‘Recycling will become even more important, there is still a lot of room for improvement.’
MGG Polymers also sees the future in a positive light. ‘We searched for a long time, but it paid off. In Danijel Rakovic, we have found an employee who approaches his work with a great deal of initiative and commitment. We look forward to a long and fruitful collaboration,’ says Managing Director Hager, who is very satisfied with the situation.