General development of waste management

Total waste generation has varied between 2017 and 2023. In 2023 total waste generation returned to the level of 2021. A total of 122 million tons of waste was generated, which was more than 7 percent more than in the previous year. The increase was mainly due to increase in the amount of waste from mining and quarrying. Also the amount of construction waste increased by 18 percent.
 
Mining and quarrying is the industry that produces the most waste, in addition to which waste is generated especially in construction. These operations mainly generate mineral waste, which is mostly different earth and stone materials. A smaller part of mineral waste is ash, brick and concrete. Ash is also produced in energy production.
 
Waste generation in energy production increased strongly to 1.8 million tonnes, wchich was 83 percent more than in the previous year. Approximately 54,00 tonnes less waste was utilized as energy than in the previous year.

The share of households of all generated waste is small; in 2023, their share was only 1.3 percent.

Relative to population, Finland's waste generation in 2022 was, as in previous years, the highest in the EU, at approximately 20 tonnes per person, while the EU average in the same year was just under 5 tonnes per person.
 
Since the uneven distribution of primary production causes challenges in the comparability of countries, the EU reports waste generation excluding major mineral waste. Without this waste, Finland generated 1,800 kilograms of waste per person, compared to the EU average of 1,774 kilograms. The amount of waste in Finland, excluding the largest mineral waste items, has decreased throughout the period under review.

Waste generation volumes have varied between 2017 and 2023, in accordance to waste generation.
 
The majority of all generated waste is treated by landfilling. In 2023, waste treatment increased by 10 percent from the previous year.
 
Most of the treated waste is mineral waste that is heaped in mining areas. Majority of mineral waste is generated by mining and quarrying, of which the amount of waste increased by 8 percent. Mineral waste from construction increased by 16 percent. Due to the large amount of mineral waste, final disposal accounted for approximately 85 percent of all waste treatment.

Only the kind of waste is placed in landfills of which the utilization is not technically or economically possible or profitable. Landfilling of municipal waste has almost completely stopped.
 
Most of the waste generated in manufacturing is utilized either as energy or as material.

The total amount of material recovery and its share of all waste treatment decreased compared to the previous year. The total amount of energy recovery remained at the previous year's level.

In 2023 the amount of hazardous waste decreased 16 percent from the previous year. A considerable part of the waste from mining activities and the processing of mining minerals is classified as hazardous waste today. This increases the share of hazardous waste to a high level compared to before.
 
Mining accounted for 93 percent of the generation of hazardous waste.

The next largest amount, 1.2 million tons of hazardous waste was generated in manufacturing. The amount was a little bit higher than the year before. Among industrial sectors, the most hazardous waste is generated in the processing of metals and the manufacture of metal products.
 
Small amounts of hazardous waste such as electronics, medical waste and waste oil are also generated in households and service industries. In 2023 their share of all hazardous waste was 0.3 percent.

Hazardous waste treatment decreased to 24 million tons in 2023. The vast majority of hazardous waste is treated by placing hazardous waste in landfills. A majority of mining waste are now classified as hazardous, which increases the amount of hazardous waste compared to some previous years.
 
Recovery of hazardous waste as material or energy is low, and their share decreased from the previous year to only 1 percent of the total amount of hazardous waste treated.
 
In Finland, hazardous waste is incinerated in waste power plants licensed for the incineration of hazardous waste. Some of the waste classified as hazardous, such as impregnated wood or oil waste, can also be burned in other incineration plants, if the environmental permit allows it.

The number of international waste shipments that require a waste transfer permit has increased in recent years in terms of imports. In 2024, a record amount of waste was brought to Finland, about 470 thousand tons. The amount of imported waste grew by over 50 percent.

The most significant change compared to the previous year was the import of waste-derived fuels, which grew almost 90 percent. Also in the previous year the import of waste-derived fuels quadrupled. Only the import of wood waste decreased a little.

Waste export volumes have decreased after 2020, amounting to approximately 164 thousand tons in 2024. The total amount did not significantly change from the previous year.

From Finland, the most exported waste types were metal-containing waste, wood waste and plastic waste. The quantities of these have varied every year, only the export of plastic waste has increased in the previous years. Most of the plastic waste was packaging waste, which was exported to Sweden and Denmark for recovery operations.
 
The export of municipal waste and waste-derived fuels have decreased since 2020. Finland previously did not have sufficient capacity for waste incineration. The export of construction and demolition waste has also decreased. The decrease in the export of wood waste has been influenced by the end of import of wood and wood waste from Russia.

Recycling rates of packaging waste are monitored for each material. The recycling rate is calculated by dividing the amount of recycled packaging waste by the amount of packaging placed on the market.
 
The highest recycling rate is for paper, cardboard and cardboard packaging, of which the recycling rate in 2023 was 96 percent. It was a little lower than in the previous year. The recycling rate of glass packaging decreased a little and was 31 percent. The recycling rate of wooden packaging increased to 23 percent.
 
The EU's recycling targets for the years 2025 and 2030 set challenges especially for the recycling of plastic and wooden packaging. In 2025, 50 percent of plastic packaging should be recycled, and in 2030 already 55 percent. Accordingly, 25 and 30 percent of wooden packaging should be recycled. For other packaking, the recycling targets have been achieved.

The price trend of mixed waste freights in the years 2011-2024 has been rising. The development has been similar both in Finland and in the EU on average. In the previous years the rise has been more rapid in Finland.
 
Price information for Finland is collected from the most representative cities and the most representative agents in them. Depending on local representativeness, these can be either a service produced by the city itself, an administrator contracted by it, or a private company. In the data collection, the most typical waste container for the area, its size and emptying interval are taken into account.

In the years 2012-2023, the value added in the waste and environmental management industry has varied, but increased especially from 2020 to 2022, when it was 924 million euros. In 2023 the value added decreased to 714 million euros. The value added of the whole environmental goods and services sector increased from previous years and was almost 17 billion euros.
 
The category of waste management and recycling covers waste collection, material recycling and waste treatment and final disposal.
 
The data comes from the environmental business statistics produced by Statistics Finland, which describes the environment-related business conducted in Finland. Environmental business refers to production that prevents environmental pollution or saves natural resources. Production can be the production of products, services or technology.
 
Increment value means the value generated by the unit participating in production. It is calculated in market production by subtracting the intermediate products (goods and services) used in production from the unit's output, and in non-market production by adding up employee compensation, consumption of fixed capital and possible production and import taxes.

Employment in waste management and material recycling has varied between 2012 and 2022. It increased especially in 2022 being almost 8500 person-years. In 2023 the employment of waste management and material recycling sector dropped to 6300 person-years. Employment of the whole environmental goods and services sector increased in 2023 and was 145 000 person-years.

The category of waste management and recycling covers waste collection, material recycling and waste treatment and final disposal.