3.9.2008, 10:00
As a member of the EU, Finland has committed to significantly reduce its CO2 emissions. Along with industry and energy production, emissions must be reduced in the fields of traffic, housing, agriculture and environmental management.
”In Finland we are currently looking for means of cutting our emissions and adapting ourselves to the climatic obligations placed by the EU. Given this background, it is remarkable to see that waste materials are still not being recovered in full in Finland, even if this would significantly help reduce emissions”, says Jari Sarjo, President and CEO of L&T.
More efficient recovery of waste materials could help reduce the climatic impact of landfills. Recovery of waste materials would also to a significant extent save virgin raw materials, energy and fossil fuels.
”Climatic impact must be observed in greater detail when working to develop environmental management. Technologies most efficient in terms of reducing emissions must be supported when deciding on waste recovery solutions”, says Jari Sarjo.
The recent trend in many municipalities around Finland has been to plan waste incineration plants alongside of landfills. The operating lifetime of such plants amount to several decades, which means that they would be locking up the resources applied for waste handling for a long time ahead.
”Implementation of incineration plants on a large scale is not a suitable solution for Finland. The plants will reduce recycling and further complicate the fulfilment of the emission reduction objectives imposed upon Finland. Incineration plants built after the comparison year 2005 as defined by EU will increase emissions within Finland’s national share and force increasingly vehement emission cuts in the fields of motoring and housing. Therefore these plants are currently turning out to be largely erroneous investments. Instead of building landfills and incineration plants, we must increase recycling and recovery of waste materials as standardised fuels for existing industrial and communal power plants, says Jari Sarjo.
Additional information:
Jari Sarjo, President and CEO, L&T, tel. +358 10 636 2810
Lassi Hietanen, Senior Specialist, L&T, tel. +358 50 385 8925
Mikko Saariaho, Communications Manager, L&T, tel. +358 400 538 352