This year (2026) marks 30 years since the municipalities of South Karelia decided to join forces and establish a joint waste company – South Karelia Waste Management Ltd – to provide waste management services for the residents of the municipality.

The company is celebrating its anniversary with various events and competitions. A coffee tour will be held at the municipalities' Hyödyksi stations.

The company publishes also has history articles on their website, which look back at the past years.

This article is the opening of a historical review, which is now also published in Uusiouutis with permission:

Don't turn waste into a problem, but into an opportunity

The municipally owned company has grown in 30 years into a pioneer in the circular economy, building a sustainable future for the benefit of the province.

Waste management has developed a lot since 1996, when South Karelia Waste Management Ltd was founded to implement a unified and functional waste management system.

Shortly after the company was founded JoutsenA waste processing area was born in Konnunsuo. The Kukkuroinmäki processing center, located 17 kilometers from the center of Lappeenranta, has witnessed major developments during its lifetime.

Over the years, a constantly increasing proportion of waste has been converted into energy or recycled. Today, almost all household waste fractions can be reused, either after treatment or as is. The final disposal mainly involves special waste, such as asbestos.

In line with the EU's targets, member states are aiming for a 65% recycling rate by 2035. Waste is less and less a problem and more and more an opportunity.

Biowaste ahead in the 2000st century

As the company entered the 2000st century, the company's shareholder municipalities made a significant decision to not deposit any biowaste at the Kukkuroinmäki final disposal site.

Residents of the municipalities had to either compost or join the separate collection of biowaste. It was decided to build a composting plant in Kukkuroinmäki.

Currently, the biogas plant located at the processing center processes all biowaste from South Karelian households, which is ultimately processed into biomethane for gas-powered vehicles.

Multiple recognitions in the 2010s

In the years following the company's early days, several new waste stations were opened at the same time as the collection equipment was renewed. At the same time, the regional service network grew. The latest to join were Lappeenranta in 2011 and Imatra in 2013.

Development continued to accelerate, and the year 2017 will go down in history as a milestone when no more household waste ended up in the Kukkuroinmäki landfill. For the first time, household waste was fully utilized either as material or energy.

The year was significant in many ways. In February 2017, South Karelia Waste Management began voluntary collection of plastic packaging from properties in the Imatra and Lappeenranta urban areas – the first municipal waste company in Finland.

“Compared to the rest of Finland, we were at the forefront of recycling plastic packaging,” says the then logistics manager of South Karelia Waste Management. Kimmo Pöllanen.

In the same year, the company received a 2,2 million euro subsidy from the Ministry of Employment and the Economy for the construction of a new biogas plant for renewable energy production, as well as the Social Enterprise label awarded by the Finnish Federation of Work.

Investments in sustainable development and services

The Social Enterprise label is a recognition of social responsibility and sustainable long-term business operations. One indication of this is that Etelä-Karjalan Jätehuolto Oy does not distribute municipal waste fees as dividends, but rather develops its operations and services in the long term for the benefit of its customers.

The following year, the company was remembered with another award, when the press jury of the Municipal Engineering Achievement 2018 competition awarded the collection of plastic packaging by South Karelia Waste Management as an environmentally noteworthy act.

"Starting the collection of plastic packaging also shows a change in attitude among local residents and a willingness to recycle and reduce waste," says Pöllänen.

“We have had a dialogue, listened to our customers and not just imposed regulations,” says the CEO. Mika Finnish.

The pandemic brought a flood of waste

The coronavirus pandemic also brought its own challenges to waste management. It delayed the construction of the company's biogas plant and caused a flood of waste at Hyödyksi stations.

When the biogas plant was completed in 2021, South Karelia Waste Management opened five BIG biogas filling stations. At the same time, contractors introduced biogas-powered garbage trucks.

This activity did not go without recognition either: The company was awarded the Key Flag and later the Nordic Ecolabel for the BIG biogas produced in Kukkuroinmäki. Joutsenmake.

Text: EKJH, editing by Uusiouutisten editorial office

Photo: EKJH. The inauguration of the Kukkuroinmäki waste center in August 2002.