Waste entrepreneur and councillor faces trial over environmental damage

Janakkala waste entrepreneur and municipal councillor Hannu Riihimäki is facing trial over alleged environmental damage, Yle reports. The case is being heard at the Kanta-Häme District Court in Hämeenlinna, with two hearing days scheduled.

Riihimäki denies the charge and declined to comment to Yle. Prosecutor Veera Lamberg has not said what punishment she will seek. The complainant in the criminal case is the Häme Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment, whose duties are now handled by the Permit and Supervision Agency.

The case was originally due to begin in January 2025 but has been postponed several times.

Company faces coercive fines over deficiencies

Several deficiencies have been identified at the recycling station operated by Janakkalan Jätteenkuljetus, including problems with the proper storage of waste.

The authorities have imposed several coercive fines on the company. According to the Legal Register Centre, the Häme Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment ordered the company in 2023 to pay a 60,000 euro fine. The company paid it in January this year.

At the end of 2025, the centre ordered the company to pay a further 25,000 euros. At the same time, it imposed additional coercive fines totalling 76,000 euros, which have not yet been ordered for payment.

The fines concern issues for which the company had already been reprimanded. The latest requirements were supposed to have been addressed by the beginning of 2026, but the Permit and Supervision Agency told Yle that most of the deficiencies remain unresolved.

Sohvi Hälikkä, a group manager in the agency’s circular economy unit, said the agency normally inspects comparable recycling stations once every two years. The Janakkala recycling station has required seven inspections during the past two years.

Fire broke out in energy waste pile

The latest set of coercive fines concerns seven separate obligations, including cleaning up litter, submitting required plans and notifications, and building stormwater structures.

One of the obligations concerns a pile of energy waste at the recycling station. A fire broke out there in early August. The pile contained construction waste, plastic and cardboard. It was six metres high at its highest point and covered about 1,600 square metres.

Riihimäki said the pile was soon due to be taken to an energy plant for burning. A hazardous situation warning was issued during the fire, which involved about 7,500 cubic metres of waste.

Hälikkä said the earlier coercive fines had included requirements concerning the waste pile. During the agency’s latest inspection, conducted just over a week ago, officials found that the station had continued to accept energy waste after the fire.

“This has been ordered to stop immediately. Energy waste may not be stored outdoors on the yard,” Hälikkä said.

The heat from the fire damaged the corner of a hall next to the pile, and the asphalt beneath it may also have been damaged. Riihimäki estimated in August that the fire could cause up to 200,000 euros in damage.

Riihimäki founded Janakkalan Jätteenkuljetus in 1989.