New sorting plant in Finland

Finnish producer responsibility organisation (PRO) Sumi Oy has announced the construction of a sorting plant for plastic packaging in the Finnish town of Riihimäki. This step is part of a far-reaching co-operation between Sumi Oy and the Finnish energy company Fortum Recycling & Waste to accelerate the recycling of plastic packaging.

The internationally active Raan Group, to which Reclay also belongs, has held the largest shares in the Finnish PRO Sumi Oy via a subsidiary since 2022.

Strategic development in the sense of an international circular economy

In a first strategic step, Sumi secured authorisation as a PRO for all types of packaging materials after its foundation. In addition to plastic packaging, glass, paper and cardboard, metal and wooden packaging is also collected and recycled on behalf of over 2,700 licensed manufacturers.

In October 2023, Sumi Oy once again attracted attention when CEO Mika Surakka was honoured with the first “Plastic Recycling Award” by the Finnish ministry. An award that also recognised Sumi Oy’s new ways of sustainable recycling.

Now the Finnish PRO is taking the next important strategic step expanding its field of activity by investing in a new sorting plant for packaging waste and founding a new subsidiary, Sumi Sorting Oy, to manage the plant.

Sorting capacities in Finland to be doubled

The aim of Sumi and co-operation partner Fortum is to at least double the domestic sorting capacity for plastic packaging with the new plant by using innovative technology. With that, the plan is to be able to sort up to 50,000 tonnes of plastic packaging per year in Finland in future. The total budget for the project is estimated at around 44 million euros.

The new plant will be built on Fortum’s premises in Riihimäki. Plastic packaging will be sorted at the plant and granulated into recycled raw material, which will ultimately significantly reduce the need to transport collected packaging waste and the resulting environmental impact.

An important step towards achieving the requirements of the PPWR

“It is not sustainable to transport packaging waste across Europe. We prioritise domestic processing and self-sufficiency”, explains Mika Surakka, CEO of Sumi. “More and more packaging manufacturers are also demanding the domestic recycling of plastic packaging and the minimisation of the environmental impact caused by waste transport. In this way, we create jobs in the circular economy and ensure that recycled material continues to be available to Finnish industry.”

Antti Tiilikainen, member of the Reclay Management Board and Chairman of the Board at Sumi Oy, is also proud of this further step: “This is a huge step for Sumi and the Finnish circular economy. The new plant will enable us to increase the sorting and recycling rate in Finland, bringing us much closer to the targets set by the PPWR.”