Organising a company’s waste management

Your company’s waste management must be in accordance with the Waste Act and other relevant regulations. If your company produces only a small amount of ordinary municipal waste and is located in a shopping centre or residential property, you can arrange waste management together with the property and participate in sharing waste management costs. Otherwise, obtain waste management services from a company in the sector that is registered as a waste carrier and has the necessary permits to handle waste.

If you cannot find the waste sector company yourself, you can use the Materiaalitori (in Finnish)Opens in a new window. site to find the service you need. (only available in Finnish and Swedish) If you cannot find a private service provider for your request on the Materiaalitori website within 14 days, you can request the service from the municipality (a secondary municipal waste management service).

For information on the sorting and transport of waste, fees and other matters related to the company's waste management, contact the companies offering waste management services in your area, the municipality’s environmental experts or the ELY Centre's environmental customer service (in Finnish)Opens in a new window..

Waste must be sorted and stored in appropriate waste containers. The waste containers should be placed so that they themselves and their emptying does not cause any harm to health or the environment. Hazardous waste, such as oils, paints and batteries, must always be collected separately. Also arrange for the individual collection of your company's paper, paperboard, glass, metal and plastic waste and biowaste.

In addition, depending on your activities, you may have special sorting and recycling obligations. For example, food fat waste generated in a company must be collected with a grease separator, to ensure that the grease does not harm the drainage system. Likewise, waste from the oil separation well must be collected and handled separately.

If a company generates construction and demolition waste, it must be sorted in accordance with the Waste Decree according to waste type to facilitate reuse. You may deviate from sorting regulations if your company's waste is transported to a sorting plant. Any asbestos waste generated in the scope of a company’s activities must be collected in sealed, durable and labelled packaging and transported without delay to treatment separately from other waste.

The manufacturer, importer and packer of certain products must arrange for the disposal of the waste related to these. Such producer-responsible waste management applies to batteries, end-of-life vehicles, tyres, collection paper, packaging and electrical and electronic equipment. This waste can be taken free of charge to the reception points arranged by the producer. If you are a manufacturer, importer or packer of these products, read up on your obligation to arrange for the waste management of these products.

Learn more about the handling and storage of hazardous waste.

The waste generated by your company is usually raw material or product waste, and by minimizing this, you can save in both waste and material costs. Determine your company’s material flows and the amount of waste generated process-specifically. By doing this, you can determine how to focus the waste reduction measures.

You can minimise the generation of waste already in the product design process. Where possible, select recycled raw materials. Make sure that your products are durable and recyclable. Avoid unnecessary packaging and favour recycled and recyclable packaging materials. If possible, replace hazardous substances with less dangerous alternatives.

Plan your production process in a manner that allows you to minimise the generation of raw material, packaging material and other waste. Organise the delivery of your products so that they are not damaged during storage and transport.

Create an atmosphere in your company that encourages the personnel to reduce the amount of waste. When training your employees, urge them to be careful and to use methods and equipment helping to reduce the amount of waste. You can clarify your waste management practices by preparing waste management guidelines for your company. The way in which different types of waste are treated and the persons responsible for each area of waste management should be set out in the document.

Read the material efficiency guide for operators (in Finnish).Opens in a new window.

Purchase waste management services from the waste management company of your choice that has the required permits. When you need to transport waste, make sure that the transport company is registered in the waste management register and also ensure that your waste processor has an environmental permit. This way, your responsibility for the waste will end when you hand the waste and its correct information over to the driver.

If you transport or transfer waste professionally, you need to be approved in the waste management register. The registry application is submitted to the ELY Centre responsible for the area where most of the activities take place. Professional and institutional waste processing requires an environmental permit.

Text edited by: Suomi.fi editorial team

Updated: 6/7/2022

Organising a company’s waste management

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