Y2024-04 Fire that broke out at a waste recycling plant in Rusko of Tampere on 5 November 2024

A fire broke out in the storage hall of the energy waste processing facility of Rusko in Tampere on 5 November 2024. This was the third time within one week that a fire broke out at the same facility. The fire destroyed the storage hall and a large amount of energy waste and recycled fuel raw materials. The fire caused odours, and smoke and particulate matter hazard in the neighbouring residential area. The fire extinguishing measures were extensive and lasted for 10 days, requiring a work input amounting to more than four person-years.

Fires often break out in waste processing facilities. Once they spread, they are difficult to extinguish and cause significant harm. Such fires often originate from spontaneous combustion or a foreign object mixed with waste. Although fires are common, preparedness and practices have not been developed for them. Rescue services have not identified waste treatment facilities as fire risks sites deviating from normal.

Changes in the energy market, increasingly warm winter seasons, growth in renewable energy and increased imports of waste-based fuel raw materials have affected the demand for recycled fuels and the management of waste flows. This has made the operation of waste treatment facilities difficult to predict. As the storage times of waste and recycled fuel raw materials increase, their circulation rate slows down, which increases the environmental damage and the risk of spontaneous ignition.

The processes related to waste treatment subject to a permit and land use are lengthy and complex. As a result, the risks associated with the process as a whole are often ignored. The environmental permit for the waste processing facility in Rusko made it possible to almost quadruple the amount of waste from the original level, while the planning and construction of the neighbouring residential areas progressed. Due to shortcomings in cooperation between authorities and problems in the flow of information, different authorities have not taken sufficient account of matters falling within each other’s competence. The lack of overall coordination has enabled the growth of waste treatment activities, while the construction of the neighbouring residential areas has continued. This has caused significant harm to the residents of the neighbouring areas.

The maximum storage capacity stated in the permit of the waste processing facility in Rusko had been exceeded in many years, regardless of who had been operating the facility at any given time. Obviously, it has been difficult to keep the operations within the limits allowed by the permit conditions, for example in terms of the amount of waste held in storage. The operations have also been affected by changes in the energy market. The supervisory authority had issued several requests for information and calls for action to the facility, which had also led to an administrative enforcement decision at the time of the previous operator.

Several plans had been drawn up to manage the safety of the waste processing facility in Rusko, identifying various risks, such as those related to the recycling rate and excessive accumulation of waste. However, no clear operating processes had been created to manage the risks, or they were not implemented as planned. Deficiencies in risk management are emphasised throughout the sector.

The Safety Investigation Authority recommends that

• the Ministry of the Environment ensure that the permit authorities’ processes take account of the rapid changes related to the operating environment of waste management and the contingency needs arising from them.
• the Ministry of the Interior together with the Partnership Network of Finnish Rescue Services ensure that rescue departments take waste treatment facilities into account as fire risk sites deviating from normal.
• in cooperation with municipalities, the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities coordinate an operating model in which effective practices are created with other authorities to reconcile the needs of waste treatment activities and housing in land use planning.