Tampere trails Turku in household plastic packaging returns

Tampere households delivered 2.5 kilograms of plastic packaging per person to Rinki collection points in the first half of the year, leaving the city narrowly behind Turku. Turku recorded about 2.7 kilograms per resident in the same period, according to Rinki Oy’s January–June comparison. Earlier this spring, some Tampere Rinki recycling points began increased camera surveillance to deter misuse a measure reported in March.

The ranking covers residents of small-household properties with fewer than five dwellings and is based on volumes brought to Rinki collection points between January and June. It puts Tampere’s sorting rate at roughly 30 percent, on par with Espoo. Turku reaches about 32 percent. Among the compared cities, Pori scores highest at 42 percent and Helsinki lowest at 25 percent.

Nationally, only about 36 percent of non-deposit consumer plastic packaging is recycled. The remainder mostly ends up in mixed waste and is incinerated. Rinki warns that poor sorting has both environmental and financial consequences, saying Finland pays more than €90 million a year in extra EU fees for unrecycled plastic packaging. The average Finn buys about 17 kilograms of plastic packaging annually, of which only around six kilograms is currently recycled.