As of October 2022, solid waste management at the Port of Helsinki has been carried out by a new service provider, Urbaser Oy. For the first time, the Port included low-emission equipment in the quality criteria of its tendering process.
“The Port of Helsinki tendered out the waste management of properties and vessels visiting the port, seeking separate operators for solid waste and oily liquids. Our new service provider for solid waste is Urbaser. As for oily liquids, Fortum Waste Solutions Oy will continue as our cooperation partner,” comments Cruise and Service Development Manager Jukka Haarni from the Port of Helsinki.
In addition to price, quality criteria had a significant role in the tendering process. For the first time, it was also included in the criteria that the waste management company must use low-emission equipment.
“Our carbon neutrality programme inherently entails cooperation with service providers, and we wanted to encourage emissions reduction in particular. At the beginning of the waste management tendering process, we were not sure whether offerers would be able to score full points in terms of environmental friendliness. However, five out of six offers were given a perfect score, including the winning offers,” says Haarni happily.
Starting from the beginning of October, the waste management equipment assigned to the Port has been 100% electric or powered with renewable materials.
The solid waste collection containers on the quays and in properties have been changed in advance, in late September. The containers are largely the same size and kept in their original places. Customers of the Port will see the change of service provider the most clearly in Urbaser’s low-emission collection vehicles.
Vessels operating in regular liner traffic in Helsinki have signed a waste management agreement directly with the waste management company and are thus exempt from waste management duties that are under the Port’s responsibility. The Port of Helsinki is responsible for organising waste management for international cruise ships and some cargo vessels visiting the port.
