Lapeco chose the Vestia Sorting Yard

The operations of the Lapland Waste Management municipal consortium span 22 per cent of the entire area of Finland. This means that the municipal consortium, more familiarly known as Lapeco, is no small actor: It operates in the area of nine municipalities in Lapland, including Inari, Kittilä, Sodankylä, Kemijärvi and Salla.

The waste station of the last-mentioned municipality was coming to the end of its lifespan, which is why Lapeco started looking for new solutions to implement the waste management in Salla. Among the various options, the municipal consortium ended up choosing Vestia’s innovative model.

– We looked into different concepts, of which the Vestia Sorting Yard was the best option for us. We chose the concept especially because Vestia offered remote monitoring, which allows the use of the services at the Salla station to be monitored and guided from Ylivieska. It makes our work a lot easier, says Janne Vuolli, Operations Manager at Lapeco.

A clear-cut project from start to finish

Once the decision to start cooperating with Vestia had been made, the project could be launched in autumn 2022. The design of the Salla sorting yard started with a needs assessment to figure out Lapeco’s waste management needs and the location of the future yard.

– The original idea was to place the sorting yard with the old waste station, but it was a challenging location in terms of data communications and accessibility. We ended up establishing the sorting yard in the new industrial area in Salla, where it is very accessible to customers.

Of the 1-level and 2-level solutions offered by Vestia, Lapeco chose the latter, in which the waste skips and pressing machines are placed on the lower level of the sorting yard. This means that the sorting yard has more space for recycling and lifting the waste in the skips is easier.

– With these distances, you also have to consider the fill rate of the skips so that refuse collection vehicles do not drive around unnecessarily. In a 2-level solution, the fill rate of the skips is better, which also means a longer servicing interval, Vuolli explains.

After the needs assessment, Vestia took care of the sorting yard’s design, the competitive tendering and construction process, contract supervision and the implementation of the automation. The client was only responsible for procurement decisions and design management, taking into account the special requirements of the area.

– The concept was replicated directly from Vestia, and so the sorting yard was kind of just dropped onto our plot. The plans were largely all set, but we always reviewed them step by step with Vestia. The project was very clear-cut.

“Waste reception, customers’ use of the services and the sorting of materials are easier. The station is neat in every respect. The waste is diverted to the right place and the batches of waste stay suitable, thereby allowing them to be utilised better as material.”

Significant advantages for customers and the client

In connection with the contract work, new payment and customer systems were designed for Lapeco to facilitate invoicing. The municipal consortium uses a so-called free limit which allows customers who are paying the basic charge to deliver a certain cubic metre amount of waste free of charge. In the past, transactions related to this arrangement were handled with the waste station attendant, but now the same thing can be done conveniently at a self-service point.

– The sorting yard has been well received by customers. At first, we were afraid that customers might find the registration annoying, but this concern proved unwarranted. Using the yard and the self-service terminal has gone really well.

Janne Vuolli lists the numerous advantages of the sorting yard: Waste reception, customers’ use of the services and the sorting of materials are easier. The waste is diverted to the right place and the batches of waste stay suitable, thereby allowing them to be utilised better as material.

With the remodelling, it was also possible to extend the opening hours in Salla: Before, the waste station was open once a week, but now it is open every weekday. According to Vuolli, this not only provides better service for customers but also makes things significantly easier for Lapeco.

– All in all, the idea of the project was to make our work easier. Electronic payments at the yard have reduced our work on the invoicing end. Furthermore, thanks to the remote monitoring, the area no longer needs to be staffed. This also results in savings. Vuolli says that Lapeco already has plans with Vestia for the implementation of the next sorting yard. Since the concept works, it is easy to replicate elsewhere.

– We are gathering experiences from Salla this year, but already we dare to say that everything is going as it should. The plan is to have a Vestia Sorting Yard in the area of all our largest municipalities, Vuolli says in conclusion.

Interested in the Vestia Sorting Yard?