Varkus cleanup leaves toxic soil and waterlogged yards

Residents of 15 detached homes in the Savonmäki neighbourhood of Varkaus say a soil-cleanup project failed to remove toxins from their yards, which now collect water and cannot be used. Yle reported that the work was carried out in summer 2025.

The homes were built in the 1960s on top of an old landfill. The Varkaus city authorities zoned the area for residential use in 1963, and the first homes were built there in 1966.

For decades, municipal waste was illegally dumped at the landfill, along with hazardous waste from Ahlström factories. Soil studies at the properties have found mercury, cyanide, lead and antimony. Authorities have prohibited residents from eating produce grown in their yards.

Lead can cause cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, high blood pressure and fertility problems, according to the Finnish Safety and Chemicals Agency.

The cleanup was intended to remove the contaminated soil from the yards of the 15 homes. Hundreds of truckloads, totalling nearly 8,000 tonnes, were taken away in a project led by the former Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment, now part of the Finnish Supervisory Agency.

Garden destroyed

Anja Viljanen, 93, had cared for her garden throughout her life. In the 1970s, it won several prizes in competitions organised by a local gardening association.

Viljanen had lived on the same plot in Savonmäki for 60 years. Until two summers ago, she weeded her flowerbeds and grew vegetables. Her son, Jukka Viljanen, said she now finds it distressing to look out at the yard, especially when rain leaves pools of water across it.

Viljanen has declined to be interviewed, but gave her son permission to tell the family’s story.

The discovery of the landfill shocked the family. Viljanen struggled to understand how food grown in the garden could have been eaten for decades before authorities declared it dangerous, her son said.

Residents dispute the replacement soil

Next-door neighbour Anna-Kaisa Kiely showed Yle a sample of the hard soil brought to the properties to replace the contaminated ground. The fill material came from a Varkaus city street construction site. No samples were taken before it was delivered, and the city was not paid for the material.

The project was carried out under a tight schedule because the responsible regional authority had received more than 600,000 euros in state funding through the national Soil in Shape programme. The funding had to be used during 2025.

Kiely said her yard is now unusable. Residents say the replacement soil is too dense, causing water to remain on the surface and preventing plants from growing.

The Finnish Supervisory Agency said the fill material was suitable for the yards, although it is less permeable than the soil that was removed. The agency had instructed the contractor not to bring only clay onto the properties.

The main contractor, Lassila and Tikanoja, declined to comment to Yle and referred questions to the commissioning authority, the Finnish Supervisory Agency.

Ari Nygren, a group manager at the agency, denied that clay had been brought to the properties. Three samples taken from the yards in spring, after they began filling with water, were classified as silty sand moraine or sandy silt.

Nygren has not visited Savonmäki during the project. He acknowledged that the replacement soil allows water to pass through less effectively than the original soil, but said the choice was intended to prevent grass from drying out.

“The commissioning authority considers the work to have been carried out as planned and approved,” Nygren said.

The residents and the Finnish Supervisory Agency remain sharply divided over the quality of the work.