Local food, fertilizer, fuel – Munkkaa landfill site in Lohja has become a pilot centre for circular economy

A visit to the Munkkaa waste management centre in Lohja gives confidence in the future. Numerous experiments are underway to recover nutrients and create a new circular economy.

Mr Vesa Heikkonen, CEO of waste management company Rosk’n Roll, takes us on a tour of Munkkaa and shows us a hemp field located at the site. He talks about the ambitious goals of the projects that are just getting started: in Munkkaa, nutrients from biowaste will be recycled and water management will be made more efficient. At the same time, cleaner biomass and soil improvers will be created for local food production.

The nutrient load on the city’s wastewater treatment plant will be reduced, which will also reduce eutrophication in waterways. And, of course, all of this creates new business for the companies involved.

In Munkkaa, Rosk’n Roll offers its partners rental areas and an ecosystem in which all participants share the common goal of developing the circular economy. A total of ten corporate partners are currently involved in new creative projects.

Transforming waste to new raw materials

Some residents of Helsinki-Uusimaa may remember Munkkaa as a landfill site. Decades have passed since then, and landfills have been transformed into circular economy material centres that now serve as sites for new material flows.

Wood, concrete, brick, brushwood, scrap metal, plasterboard and porcelain are collected and delivered to companies for further processing. In fact, everything possible is collected, as there are around fifty different material flows. The only thing that remains unused is dirty mineral mass.

In Munkkaa, former waste has become raw material that we want to keep in circulation for as long as possible.

“I like to give the example of how we make houses out of old toilets. Our partner Tiileri uses toilets and sinks to make bricks, and the bricks are used to build houses.”

The partners involved already have familiar and clear business operations in raw material recycling, but at the same time they are trying something completely new.

Gasum, an energy company involved in the circular economy in Munkkaa, uses the biowaste generated in the area in its biogas plant, and the digestate is recovered as a soil improver for the fields of Western Helsinki-Uusimaa.

Heikkonen is excited about the extensive collaboration that began four years ago. One of the goals is to produce local food indoors using hydroponic cultivation, or aquaculture. In addition to soil improver, the side streams from Gasum’s biogas plant provide nutrients for microalgae production and other indoor cultivation.

Redono is the developer of indoor cultivation in the ecosystem. The company recycles and utilizes recycled nutrients and carbon dioxide from Gasum’s biogas plant for year-round production of food and raw materials.

Redono is currently looking for partners to implement a new processing plant for indoor cultivation. The goal is to be able to utilize recycled nutrients in the production of microalgae, herbs, and mushrooms, for example.

Creating biochar from fiber hemp

GRK, a company in the infrastructure sector, is also involved in the collaboration with other companies in the Munkkaa ecosystem. GRK is particularly interested in the production and utilization of biochar. During the project, GRK will test how wastewater can be filtered using biochar.

Fiber hemp grown on a former landfill site will be tested as a raw material for biochar. The hemp plants, which were planted a year ago in spring, have grown to a height of several meters and are as thick as an arm.

During the winter, water has evaporated from the plants, and now the plan is to test how well fiber hemp can be converted into biochar.

The circular economy company Kiertoravinne is involved in investigating the potential of biochar to be used as a soil improver.

“One of our common goals is to be involved in developing a closed nutrient cycle,” Heikkonen says.

He points out that the Earth has limited amounts of clean water and arable land that can be used to grow crops. Indoor farming is being tested in Munkkaa to meet future needs of food production.

Heikkonen believes that a major advantage of these joint projects is that the results help develop the business operations of the companies involved.

New circular economy operators welcome

Helsinki-Uusimaa has set an ambitious goal to be carbon neutral by 2030. In order to achieve this, the region’s food system must be developed to be more sustainable and carbon emissions reduced significantly. At the same time, the region and the whole of Southern Finland want to become smart and sustainable food producers and distributors.

The Munkkaa ecosystem fits in perfectly with the region’s goals.

Heikkonen says that the experiments in Munkkaa are also attracting interest outside the Helsinki-Uusimaa Region, and he has been presenting them to many circular economy operators across Finland.

During recent years, stricter recycling requirements have given rise to other pioneers in Finland to transform former landfills.

“We have good cooperation in Finland, and information sharing is open.”

What kind of operators are welcome to join in the Munkkaa ecosystem?

“The bar is set quite high, but we welcome anyone interested in developing the circular economy to discuss the future of our shared ecosystem.”

Munkkaa is always interested in potential new tenants when they have something new to offer to the circular economy. In the best case scenario, a new operator would be able to link their own work to the experiments and development work of the already existing companies in Munkkaa.

In the future, production of green energy may also begin in the area, as the implementation of a solar park in Munkkaa is currently being investigated.