Court inspects Tampere waste plant after repeated fires

Vaasa Administrative Court carried out a rare site inspection on Monday at Remeo’s waste treatment plant in Rusko, Tampere, Yle reports. The inspection is part of proceedings over whether the plant’s environmental permit was lawfully revoked.

The Regional State Administrative Agency revoked the environmental permit of Remeo Refining Oy in November 2025. Remeo appealed the decision to the Vaasa Administrative Court in January, so the revocation is not yet legally binding and the plant has been allowed to continue operating.

The court estimates that it conducts only one or two similar inspections each year. Representatives of Remeo, parties who submitted responses, permit and monitoring authorities, Tampere’s environmental authority and the wellbeing services county of Pirkanmaa attended the inspection.

Fire lasted more than a week

One reason for the permit revocation was a fire at the plant in November 2024. Extinguishing the fire took more than a week, and the rescue service described the incident as highly unusual and exceptionally demanding.

The fires caused very poor air quality, with high particle concentrations measured as far as a kilometre from the site. The most recent fire at the plant lasted 10 days.

Authorities said the plant had repeatedly disregarded the Environmental Protection Act and the obligations set out in its environmental permit. It had also stored excessive amounts of waste in large piles without permission. At the time of the fire, the amount of waste stored by Remeo was about twice the permitted level.

Neighbour hopes company will leave

Annemari Kallioranta, a member of the Lintuhytti residents’ association, lives next to the plant and visited it for the first time during the inspection.

She said the plant was larger than she had expected. She also noted that the amount of waste appeared to have fallen compared with two years earlier.

However, Kallioranta said she believed the company’s operations in Rusko were coming to an end.

“It will leave here at the latest when the city ends the leases for the plots. That probably won’t take many more years,” she said.

Although the waste piles and odour problems have decreased to some extent, Kallioranta said this did not change the fact that the plant had not operated in accordance with its environmental permit.

Remeo says operations have changed

Remeo Chief Executive Officer Panu Routasalo has led the company for just over two years. During that time, the company’s management has practically been replaced.

Remeo said it had worked systematically to improve its risk management and operating practices.

“The purpose of the inspection was to observe what our operations look like now, and we were able to present them comprehensively,” Routasalo said.

According to Remeo, the decision to revoke the environmental permit is largely based on earlier conditions that differ from the plant’s current operations.

The oversized waste piles that accumulated before the fire have been removed. The plant was emptied immediately after the fire in accordance with instructions from the authorities.

“We have now made sure that material flows efficiently, so that operations remain systematic and well organised,” Routasalo said.

Tampere environmental director Kati Skippari, who has previously visited the plant during official inspections, said the latest inspection showed a clear change.

“The amount of waste has at least decreased, and there have been many changes to the operations,” she said.