Lapeco chose Veloop Sorting Yard

The Lapland Waste Management Association covers 22% of Finland’s total land area. Known as Lapeco, it is no small player, operating in nine municipalities in Lapland, including Inari, Kittilä, Sodankylä, Kemijärvi and Salla.

The latter municipality’s waste station was coming to the end of its life, and Lapeco started looking for new solutions for waste management in Salla. Among various alternatives, the municipality chose the innovative model of Vestia, now Veloop.

– We looked at different concepts and Vestia Sorting Yard was the best option for us. We chose the concept because Vestia offered remote monitoring, which allows us to control and manage the operations at Salla station from Ylivieska. It makes our work much easier,” says Janne Vuolli, Operations Manager at Lapeco.

A clear project from start to finish

Once the decision to start working with Vestia was made, the project was ready to start in autumn 2022. The design of the sorting yard in Salla started with a needs assessment to determine Lapeco’s waste management needs and the location of the future yard.

– The original idea was to locate the sorting yard next to the old waste station, but this was a challenging location in terms of communications and accessibility. We ended up setting up the sorting yard in Salla’s new industrial area, where it is very accessible to customers.

Of the 1 and 2 tier solutions offered by Vestia, the latter was chosen for Lapeco, with the waste platforms and compactors located on the lower level of the sorting yard. This provides more space for recycling in the sorting yard and makes it easier to lift the waste onto the pallets.

– At these distances, you also have to consider the filling rate of the pallets so that the waste trucks do not drive unnecessarily. A 2-level solution will result in a better filling rate of the pallets and therefore a longer service response,” explains Vuolli.

After the needs assessment, Vestia was responsible for the design of the sorting yard, the tendering and construction process, the supervision of the works and the implementation of the automation. The client was only responsible for making procurement decisions and guiding the design, taking into account the specific requirements of the site.

– The concept was copied directly from Vestia, so the sorting yard was sort of just dropped on our plot. The plans were pretty much ready-made, but we always went through them step by step with Vestia. The project was very clear-cut.

“It’s easier to receive waste, deal with customers and sort materials. The station is clean in every respect. Waste is directed to the right place and waste items are kept in the right batches for better material recovery.”

Significant benefits for customers and subscriber

During the contracting process, new payment and factual systems were designed for Lapeco to facilitate invoicing. The municipality has a so-called free limit, which allows basic fee paying customers to bring in a certain cubic volume of waste for free. In the past, this was handled by a waste station attendant, but now it can be done conveniently at a self-service point.

– The sorting yard has been well received by customers. At first we feared that the registration might cause some annoyance among customers, but to no avail. Using the yard and the self-service terminal has gone really well.

Janne Vuolli says that the benefits of the sorting yard have been numerous: waste collection, customer service and material sorting are easier. Waste is directed to the right place and waste batches are kept in the right place, allowing for better material recovery.

The reform also allowed Salla to increase its opening hours: previously the waste station was open once a week, now it is open every weekday. According to Vuolli, this not only serves customers better, but also makes life much easier for Lapecoa.

– Overall, the idea was to make our work easier. The electronic payment system in the yard has reduced our work at the billing end. In addition, remote monitoring means that we no longer need to man the site. That means savings on that side too. Vuolli says that Lapeco already has plans with Vestia for the next sorting yard. Since the concept works, it is easy to replicate elsewhere.

– We’re gathering experience in Salla this year, but already it’s safe to say that everything is going as it should. The plan is to bring the Vestia Sorting Yard to all our major municipalities,” Vuolli concludes.