Litter

A housing company’s waste containers are the responsibility of the housing company, and they are emptied in accordance with the schedule agreed between the housing company and a waste management company. Whether a waste collection point is overfilled with waste depends on the housing company shareholders. If there is an excessive amount of waste, you should primarily contact the property manager of your housing company. The property manager has the right to make changes to the waste management services. If the waste collection point is constantly overflowing despite the property manager being contacted, you can contact the City of Espoo’s Environmental Protection  through the feedback service(external link, opens in a new window). 

If there is litter lying around in nature, the party that left it there or the owner of the area is responsible for cleaning it up. As a rule of thumb, if you litter, you also clean it up. If the litterer is not discovered, the responsibility for cleaning is transferred to the holder of the area or the landowner. This can mean an individual, a company, an association, a community, a city, or the state.

If you know the litterer or the owner of the littered area, mention littering directly to them. When you report a littering through our  feedback service(external link, opens in a new window), investigating the matter is easier if you know the landowner. You can use the Espoo map service(external link, opens in a new window) to see whether the site is on city-owned land. Remember to add the location information and photographs to your report. 

If it is a case of waste or chemicals causing an immediate risk of environmental pollution, such as open or leaking chemical containers, call the general emergency number 112.

Discarded sealed chemical containers that do not cause an immediate risk of environmental pollution are reported to Environmental Protection via the feedback service(external link, opens in a new window).

In many cases, the city only becomes aware of environmental hazards once residents report them. You can use the feedback service to ensure that your case is addressed. 

Unfortunately, discarded appliances and furniture are sometimes left in forests instead of being properly recycled by taking them to a Sortti station, for example. In addition, there are sometimes unauthorised landfills in forests that can be several decades old, the waste of which can cause dangerous situations for people and children spending time in the forest, unaware of the illegal landfill. This is why it is important to inform the city about them.

If you find waste in a forest or nature, report it to the Environmental Protection through the feedback service. Use the map function to add to your report as specific a location as possible. We also recommend attaching photographs to your report so that the Environmental Protection employees can visit the site to confirm the situation. 

The party that abandoned the vehicle or vessel must remove it. If the party responsible cannot be found or reached or if the party does not fulfil their cleaning responsibility, the area’s possessor, such as a tenant, owner or manager, i obligated to take care of the cleaning obligation. Abandoned vessels can be reported through the feedback service(external link, opens in a new window). More information on the notification can be found on the page for abandoned vehicles. 

The wind can blow litter, such as packaging plastics and styrofoam, from a construction site and spread it around. Inspectors from Building Control monitor developers, but they do not have the authority to have areas outside the construction site cleaned. Litter that has spread outside the construction site is primarily the responsibility of the generator of the litter, i.e. the developer. The party responsible for the site must collect all the litter that has spread, maybe because of wind, from the site(s) to the surrounding nature. Litter should be kept on the construction site, which means that the developer must also clean up any plywood, wooden pallets, glass wool and other large-scale waste that has spread to the surrounding nature. 

It is normal to occasionally see rats in an urban area, and there are rats in practically all large cities. Prevention is essential in controlling the number of rats, but a pest controller may be needed in some situations. Read more about controlling rats.

Garden waste includes, for example, leaf waste from raking, plant waste, weeds and grass clippings, twigs and apples. Garden waste must be placed in the compost in your garden or taken to a Sortti station. Small amounts of garden waste can be placed in the property’s biowaste container.

Taking garden waste into a forest or other nearby areas is prohibited by law. Shrub branches and pieces of perennial plants will take root and spread into nature as invasive crop. Piles of garden waste eutrophicate the forest floor and terrain, leading to increase in plants such as nettles and mugwort that do not normally grow in the forest. In addition, invasive species such as the rosa rugosa, balsam, Asian bistorts, and lupine find favourable growing conditions in soil eutrophied by other garden waste. 

The Rinki ecopoint network is maintained by Suomen Pakkauskierrätys Rinki Oy. All Rinki ecopoints accept household cardboard and glass packaging as well as metal. Some of the recycling points also accept plastic packaging, and most of the points also accept paper, clothes in good condition and household textiles.

You can request that a particular Rinki ecopoint organise the collection of a particular waste component by giving feedback via the Rinki Oy feedback service(external link, opens in a new window) or sending an email to asiakaspalvelu@rinkiin.fi. If the collection containers for recyclable material are full or if their surroundings become littered, this must be directly reported to Suomen pakkauskeräys Rinki Oy. 

You can find the Rinki ecopoint located closest to you on the Rinki Oy website(external link, opens in a new window). If you want to propose a new recycling point, you can submit a proposal to Rinki Oy’s customer service(external link, opens in a new window) using the feedback form on the website by selecting Ehdota ekopistettä (“propose an ecopoint”).

Tip! All general recycling points in Finland can be browsed on the website kierrätys.info(external link, opens in a new window). 

The problem of littering becomes visible especially in spring, when the snow has melted, but in the City of Espoo, each actor works all year round to prevent littering. The cleanliness of public areas is the responsibility of the Public Works Department, which provides information about the topic and coordinates clean-up events for which the city provides the necessary equipment. Environmental Protection investigates cases where litter poses a risk of environmental pollution. Residents’ feedback concerning litter is reacted to, and the Public Works Department and Environmental Protection play a part in addressing these issues. Nature House Villa Elfvik, on the other hand, works closely with schools and day-care centres on the topic of littering.

The City of Espoo encourages its residents to organise clean-up events to take care of the local nature. You can get support for your clean-up event from the city and more information can be found on the clean-up event webpage. 

You can organise a clean-up event yourself or take part in a clean-up event organised by the city. If you organise your own event, you can get the necessary tools from the city. You can read more about clean-up events on the clean-up event webpage.