Soil as a reusable good

According to the law, when soil has been brought to a landfill it can no longer be used. This means that a lot of precious material goes completely to waste.

Maapörssi was created as a platform for land builders to be in contact with each other. By placing an announcement on the company’s website they can either offer or receive soil. The two parties can decide whether they want to exchange money or not.

Saving money and nature

The soils obtained from nature are expensive because their price contains mining and transport costs. The service Maapörssi offers significantly diminishes building expenses. Instead of paying a high price for “new” soil, Maapörssi users can receive excess soils mined in other construction sites. The transport expenses decrease since the receiving end can look for construction sites close to its own location, and the provider doesn’t have to carry material to landfills.

In addition to monetary savings, Maapörssi spares nature. About 65 per cent of all the waste created in the Helsinki metropolitan area originates from land and water building, explains the Marketing and Business Development Manager of the company, Juuso Viitikko. This number could be reduced by using Maapörssi’s recycling service.

“If there was more recycling in this field, the need to zone landfills would decrease. With the help of our platform we can save land areas for other use”, Viitikko says.

Improving circular economy

Maapörssi has been on the rise its whole existence but the past three years have been the most prominent so far. At the moment Maapörssi has around a thousand registered users, most of which are companies.

Maapörssi works actively in improving circular economy in Finland. The company works together with cities and the Ministry of the Environment on the issue. Maapörssi is also a member of Cleantech Finland, a hub of Finnish cleantech expertise and sustainable innovations.

“We’re very interested in networking with societal actors and communicating how the circular economy could be applied to soils and demolition materials”, Juuso Viitikko says.