Marjukka Ronkainen (right) and Heidi Happonen in front of the Ecoisola sorting station in Käylä.
In July, the City of Kuusamo launched Ecoisola sorting station services for tourists offering mixed waste and recycling services. Mixed waste is often a headache for tourists. While there are several sorting points for recyclable material all over Finland, there are hardly any collection points for mixed waste available to everyone. Now, when travelling in Kuusamo, you can buy a licence with your mobile phone and get instant access to the sorting station.
The smart sorting station in the village of Käylä has been serving local residents since December 2023 and is the first of its kind in Finland. This summer, the QR identification card was replaced by a Waper mobile app, which shares user information of waste delivieries. In the future, the Waper app can also be used to charge waste fees according to the Pay-As-Throw model.
Waper app or QR code is used for logging in to the sorting station.
”User feedback has been very positive from the beginning. We chose a model where we could test with five different waste fractions how the advanced sorting station could help us to develop waste management in Kuusamo according to the circular economy model,” says Marjukka Ronkainen, Service Specialist for Waste Management and Circular Economy in the City of Kuusamo.
Kuusamo’s Ecoisola is still the only smart sorting unit in Finland, but there are around 10 000 Ecoisola units already in Europe.
”A smart sorting station is an effective way to increase recycling activity in villages in remote areas,” says Heidi Happonen, the Finnish representative of the Ecoisola sorting station at Wastebook Oy.
The sorting station can have several user groups and access rights can be limited according to customer type. In Kuusamo, for example, only visitors can bring in mixed waste. Ecoisola sorting station is also equipped with level sensors to optimise waste container collections.
Data from the sorting station is stored in the cloud and can be integrated with logistics and customer management software, for example. This enables optimisation of logistics and automated invoicing based on usage.
The Ecoisola sorting station system will be on display at the Helsinki Waste Management Days in October 8th-9th.
The service hatch is lifted up for container collection.