Municipal Waste Companies as Circular Economy Actors: Insights from Finland
Tuuli Leskinen’s blog text on her Master’s thesis that explores how Finnish municipal waste management companies perceive and enact their role in the circular economy, especially in relation to plastics recycling, within the context of the PlasticsCircularity research project.
In this blog text, I will tell about my Master’s thesis, which I have completed at the University of Eastern Finland. My subject was sustainability, and I focused on the operations of Finnish municipal waste management companies and how they view themselves (or not) as a part of the circular economy. The idea for my thesis started in early 2025, and my work contributed to a Business Finland funded project PlasticsCircularity. PlasticsCircularity is a research project that has multiple research bodies working together with the UEF Business School Research Center for Sustainable Circular Economy. Our partners are VTT, LUT, and SYKE.
So what is the project about? The PlasticsCircularity project focuses on the recycling and reuse of plastics and the recyclability of materials, so these themes were also reflected in my thesis. I joined my supervisors Ville-Veikko Piispanen and Kristina Leppälä who were already working in this project and I was glad to join them in an important project like this. Being involved in the project provided a strong framework for the topic, but more importantly, it gave me access to enthusiastic and knowledgeable guidance. This support played a major role in ensuring the thesis progressed smoothly and kept me inspired throughout the process.
What was the focus of my study? I studied Finnish waste management companies because they have received limited academic attention in circular economy research. I wanted to find out two things: what role waste management companies really play in promoting the circular economy and what challenges and opportunities they experience, especially from the point of view of plastics recycling.
The study was carried out by interviewing five municipal waste management companies operating in different parts of Finland. The interview questions were related to the challenges and opportunities of the circular economy and plastics recycling in waste management, the impact of regulation and future prospects. Interviews with the municipal waste management companies shed light on the role of waste management companies as actors of circular economy. The discussions highlighted concrete challenges, such as regulatory impacts, technological constraints, and consumer behavior, but brought forth a lot of open opportunities: building collaborative networks, introducing new innovations and investments, and an active role for waste companies and consumers in building the circular economy.
One important finding of the study was that municipal waste companies play a key role in how material flows are managed and how efficiently they are recycled. They do not operate in isolation but rather adapt to the influence of institutional environment, meaning customers, policy makers, businesses, and others. While regulation provides a framework for a clear direction for material recycling and treatment, it is accompanied by industry standards, ethical expectations and taken-for-granted beliefs. The actions of waste companies also depend on consumer behavior, i.e. what happens to the sorting of waste at source. Waste companies cannot therefore only contribute to waste management through their own actions, but consumers are significant part of the process. In that sense, circularity is a shared responsibility.
Waste companies have the infrastructure, expertise, and local knowledge to make circular principles a reality, but they need continued support, funding, cross-sector collaboration, and engaged communities to do so. By understanding and empowering the roles of those already turning theory into practice, we can move much closer to making sustainable resource use the new normal.
IMPORTANT TAKEAWAY: For waste companies, the circular economy is no longer just about waste management; it is increasingly part of strategic planning, partnerships, and vision for the future.
Blog author Tuuli Leskinen completed her Master’s Degree in Business from the University of Eastern Finland. Her Master’s thesis examined waste management companies and the circular economy using an institutional theoretical framing; this means that she looked at waste management from behavioral regulatory, and socio-cultural viewpoints. Her work provides insights to the Business Finland funded PlasticsCircularity project which you can read more of here.
Tuuli Leskinen