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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 April 2025
This article examines small and medium-sized scrap and wastepaper enterprises in Finland. They operated in the margins of the nation’s industrial economy during the twentieth century but pioneered many of the business models and practices that, in the last few decades, have become crucial elements of the circular economy. We study why and how they tried to develop profitable business models, and why some succeeded while others failed. We give particular attention to the business environment where they operated and argue that legislation, values, purchasing cartels, and other outside factors had a crucial impact on their profitability. We base our analysis partly on published company histories and other earlier research and partly on interviews and the extensive and usually open collections of business archives. Those sources provide us with the often-lacking inside view of small and medium-sized enterprises in the circular economy business and show how determined these companies were to defend their interests.
We wish to thank the Foundation for Economic Education for supporting our research. We also thank the participants of the 2nd Annual Conference of the Scandinavian Society for Economic and Social History (2021) and the 2nd Uppsala Workshop in Financial and Business History “Environmental Regulation and Sustainable Business” (2023) and two anonymous reviewers for useful comments.
1 On other countries see, e.g., Geoffrey Jones and Andrew Spadafora, “Business and Waste Management in Europe before 1945,” in Varieties of Green Business: Industries, Nations and Time, ed. Geoffrey Jones (Cheltenham, 2018), 39; Chad Denton and Heike Weber, “Rethinking Waste within Business History: A Transnational Perspective on Waste Recycling in World War II,” Business History 64, no. 5 (2022): 857, 859–861; Chad B. Denton, “Korean kuzuya, ‘German-Style Control’ and the Business of Waste in Wartime Japan, 1931–1945,” Business History 64, no. 5 (2022): 904–922.
2 See Ann-Kristin Bergquist, “Business and Sustainability,” in The Routledge Companion to the Makers of Global Business, eds. Teresa da Silva Lopes, Christina Lubinski, and Heidi J.S. Tworek (London and New York, 2019), 546–563.
3 See Pierre Desrochers, “Regional Development and Inter-industry Recycling Linkages: Some Historical Perspectives,” Entrepreneurship & Regional Development 14 (2002): 49–65; Pierre Desrochers, The Circular Economy: (Re)discovering the Free Market (Vancouver, Feb. 2023).
4 Fernando Largo Jiménez, “‘To Recycle Is to Win!’ The Recovery of Materials for War Industry and Institutional Responses in Catalonia during the Spanish Civil War, 1936–1939,” Revista de Historia Industrial—Industrial History Review XXXIII, no. 91 (July 2024): 43–67, 43, 59.
5 See, e.g., Desroshers, “Regional Development and Inter-industry Recycling Linkages”; Desrochers, Circular Economy; Jiménez, “To Recycle Is to Win!”; Jouni Korhonen, Antero Honkasalo, and Jyri Seppälä, “Circular Economy: The Concept and its Limitations,” Ecological Economics 143 (Jan. 2018): 37–46; Alan Murray, Keith Skene, and Kathryn Haynes, “The Circular Economy: An Interdisciplinary Exploration of the Concept and Application in a Global Context,” Journal of Business Ethics 140 (2017): 369–380; Willi Haas, Fridolin Krausmann, Dominik Wiedenhofer, and Markus Heinz, “How Circular Is the Global Economy? An Assessment of Material Flows, Waste Production, and Recycling in the European Union and the World in 2005,” Journal of Industrial Ecology 19, no. 5 (2015): 765–777.
6 Kati Toivanen, “One Man’s Waste Is Another Man’s Business: The Early Scrap Business as a Predecessor to the Later Circular Economy,” Tekniikan Waiheita 1 (2024): 6–36.
7 Henry Nygård, Kuopasta kiertotalouteen: Suomen yhdyskuntajätehuollon historia (Helsinki, 2016); Henry Nygård, “Lannanjalostamisesta kiertotalouteen: Katsaus Suomen jätehuollon pitkän ajan kehitykseen,” Tekniikan Waiheita 2 (2018): 26–40; Simo Laakkonen, Sari Laurila, and Marjatta Rahikainen, eds., Harmaat aallot: Ympäristönsuojelun tulo Suomeen (Helsinki, 1999).
8 Nygård, “Lannanjalostamisesta kiertotalouteen,” 37.
9 On the much debated concept of the “throwaway society,” see Susan Strasser, Waste and Want: A Social History of Trash (New York, 1999); Timothy Cooper, “War on Waste?: The Politics of Waste and Recycling in Post-War Britain, 1950–1975,” Capitalism, Nature, Socialism 20, no. 4 (2009): 53–72.
10 Adam Rome, “The Ecology of Commerce: Environmental History and the Challenge of Building a Sustainable Economy,” in Green Capitalism?: Business and the Environment in the Twentieth Century, eds. Hartmut Berghoff and Adam Rome (Philadelphia, 2017), 3–12.
11 Jones and Spadafora, “Business and Waste Management,” 28.
12 See, e.g., Jones and Spadafora, “Business and Waste Management”; Geoffrey Jones, Profits and Sustainability: A History of Green Entrepreneurship (Oxford, 2017); Chad Denton and Heike Weber, “Rethinking Waste”; Kristina Söderholm and Ann-Kristin Bergquist, “Firm Collaboration and Environmental Adaptation: The Case of the Swedish Pulp and Paper Industry 1900–1990,” Scandinavian Economic History Review 60, no. 2 (2012): 183–211; Berghoff and Rome, eds., Green Capitalism?; Ann-Kristin Bergquist, “Business and Sustainability,” in The Routledge Companion to the Makers of Global Business, eds. Teresa da Silva Lopes, Christina Lubinski, and Heidi J.S. Tworek (London and New York, 2019), 545–563; Ann-Kristin Bergquist, “Renewing Business History in the Era of the Anthropocene,” Business History Review 93, no. 1 (Spring 2019): 3–24; Carl A. Zimring, Cash for Your Trash: Scrap Recycling in America (New Brunswick and London, 2009).
13 Bergquist, “Renewing Business History,” 4.
14 Denton and Weber, “Rethinking Waste,” 873.
15 Jones, Profits and Sustainability, vii; Denton and Weber, “Rethinking Waste,” 857.
16 Kati Toivanen, Paperisielut: Suomen Keräystuote Oy 1987–2017 (Helsinki, 2019); Kati Toivanen, Me saamme maailman riittämään: Suomen Romukauppiaiden Liitto ry 1940–2020 (Forssa, 2020).
17 Jones and Spadafora, “Business and Waste Management,” 39; Denton and Weber, “Rethinking Waste,” 857, 859–861.
18 Recent studies on government policies and the macro level include Peter Thorsheim, “Trading with the Enemy? The Flow of Scrap between Britain and Germany from Pre-war Rearmament to Post-war Reconstruction,” Business History 64, no. 5 (2022): 963–983; Heike Weber, “Nazi German Waste Recovery and the Vision of a Circular Economy: The Case of Waste Paper and Rags,” Business History 64, no. 5, (2022): 882–903; Birgitte Peck Pristed, “Point of No Return: Soviet Paper Reuse, 1932–1945,” Business History 64, no. 5, (2022): 946–962.
19 Raymond G. Stokes, Roman Köster, and Stephen C. Sambrook, The Business of Waste: Great Britain and Germany, 1945 to the Present (New York, 2013), 4–5, 10.
20 Jones, Profits and Sustainability, 136–137.
21 Denton and Weber, “Rethinking Waste,” 874.
22 See, e.g., Robert Crawford and Matthew Bailey, “Cousins Once Removed? Revisiting the Relationship between Oral History and Business History,” Enterprise & Society 20, no. 1 (2019): 4–18; Geoffrey Jones and Rachael Comunale, “Oral History and the Business History of Emerging Markets,” Enterprise & Society 20, no. 1 (2019): 19–32.
23 Crawford and Bailey, “Cousins Once Removed?,” 66.
24 The Finnish Patent and Registration Office’s company database; see also note 16; Helsingin Sanomat, 28 Aug. 1977; Etelä-Suomen Sanomat, 20 Aug. 1979 and 10 Dec. 1987.
25 Toivanen, “One Man’s Waste Is Another Man’s Business.”
26 However, we have not yet been able to verify whether the claim “majority” is true. Vesa Kopra/Kuusakoski Oy, 20 March 2019; Ilkka Eronen/Er-Ra Metalli Oy, 18 Jan. 2019; Kari Evesti and Heidi Evesti/Tiilimäen Romuliike Oy, 23 Jan. 2019, interviews by Kati Toivanen.
27 See, e.g., Alex Souchen, “Recycling War Machines: Canadian Munitions Disposal, Reverse Logistics, and Economic Recovery after World War II,” Business History 64, no. 5 (2022): 984–1000.
28 Esa Erkko/Erkon Rauta- ja Romuliike Oy, 16 Jan. 2019; Matti Eskelinen/Iisalmen Teräs ja Romu Oy, 10 April 2019, interviews by Kati Toivanen.
29 Esa Erkko, 16 Jan. 2019; Matti Soini/Rautasoini Oy, Jan. 16, 2019; Kristiina and Liisa Keskitalo/Suomen Akkukeräys Oy, 9 Jan. 2019; Raili Kivimäki/Muhoksen Romu Oy, by phone, 22 July 2019; Kirsi Laine-Mäki/Envor Recycling Oy, 29 Jan. 2019; Sini Lökström/Tikkurilan Romu Oy, 4 March 2019; Piia Kramsu/Nakolinnan Rauta Oy, 13 Feb. 2019; Arto Kokko/Värimetalli Oy, 1 Feb. 2019; Ilkka Eronen, 18 Jan. 2019; Kari Evesti, 23 Jan. 2019; Erkki Yli-Kahila/Teräskolmio Oy, 8 Nov. 2019, interviews by Kati Toivanen.
30 Ann-Kristin Bergquist, Magnus Lindmark, and Nadezda Petrusenko, “Creating Value out of Waste: The Transformation of the Swedish Waste and Recycling Sector, 1970s–2010s,” Business History Review 97, no. 1 (Spring 2023): 13.
31 Veijo Tapanainen/Tarvasjoen Metalli ja Teräsromu Oy, interview by Kati Toivanen, 13 Feb. 2019.
32 Documents regarding state railways and plot rents, 1985, Minutes 1984–1986 and 1989, Romukeskus Oy archives. Harri Merikanto/Kannon Romu Oy, 29 April 2019; Sini Lökström, 4 March 2019; Antero Vaittinen, 14 Jan. 2019; Markku Raita/Kuusakoski Oy, 11 Jan. 2019; Holger Boström, executive director of the FSDA (1989–1997 and 2001–2009), 8 Jan. 2019, interviews by Kati Toivanen.
33 Sini Lökström, 4 March 2019; Antero Vaittinen, 14 Jan. 2019; Markku Lintula/Järvenpään Romu Oy, 12 March 2019; Matti Eskelinen, 10 March 2019, interviews by Kati Toivanen.
34 Holger Boström, interview by Kati Toivanen, 8 Jan. 2019; on storing wastepaper, see Toivanen, Paperisielut.
35 Arto Kokko, 1 Feb. 2019; Kirsi Laine-Mäki, 29 Jan. 2019; Hannu Kyllönen/Hernesaaren Romu Oy, 31 Jan. 2019; Kristiina Keskitalo, 9 Jan. 2019; Veijo Tapanainen, 13 Feb. 2019; Antero Vaittinen, 14 Jan. 2019, interviews by Kati Toivanen. Regarding media coverage, we have also reviewed an extensive number of newspapers from several decades in the Finnish National Library digital collections, accessed 27 Jan. 2025, https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/etusivu.
36 Simo Laakkonen, “Sota, ympäristö ja yhteiskunta,” in Sodan ekologia: Sodankäynnin ympäristöhistoriaa, eds. Simo Laakkonen and Timo Vuorisalo (Tampere, 2007), 45, 52; see also Simo Laakkonen, “Warfare—an Ecological Alternative for Peacetime? The Indirect Impacts of the Second World War on the Finnish Environment,” in Natural Enemy, Natural Ally, eds. Edmund Russell and Richard Tucker (Corvallis, OR, 2004), 175–194; Kati Toivanen, Kiertotalouden ytimessä: Suomen Uusioraaka-aineliitto 1950–2016 (Helsinki, 2017).
37 Zimring, Cash for Your Trash, 100–101.
38 Aaro Jalas, Kestävää kierrätystä 60 vuotta: Suomen Romukauppiaiden Liitto 1940–2000 (Tampere, 2000), 21. Regarding the interviews: due to the delicacy of this subject, we have decided not to name the several entrepreneurs interviewed about dishonesty in business since the names of the sources might give the wrong impression about who was being dishonest.
39 Henry Nygård, Kuopasta kiertotalouteen, 34–35; Jalas, Kestävää kierrätystä, 8.
40 Suomen Asetuskokoelma 136/1937, 240/1939, 245/1939, The National Library of Finland.
41 Toivanen, Me saamme maailman riittämään, 200–205; Bergquist, Lindmark, and Petrusenko, “Creating Value out of Waste,” 21–22, 26. However, Finland did not adopt the same kind of deposit system for scrap cars as in Norway and Sweden to encourage producers and consumers to begin recycling more. In 2004, Finland included an amendment regarding the responsibilities of car producers in the legislation.
42 Matti Vehkalahti, former environmental advisor for the Ministry of the Environment, by phone, February 2018; Holger Boström, 8 Jan. 2019, interviews by Kati Toivanen.
43 Jätehuoltolaki (Waste Management Act) 673/1978. For more on laws concerning waste management and the development of municipal waste companies in Finland, see Henry Nygård, “Lannanjalostamisesta kiertotalouteen;” Nygård, Kuopasta kiertotalouteen.
44 Teemu Aalto, “Paperinkeräys Oy 1943–1968” (unpublished history, 1968); Matti Vehkalahti/Ministry of the Environment, by phone, Feb. 2018; Kyösti Pöyry/Paperinkeräys Oy, 17 May 2018; Merja Helander/Keräystuote Oy, 13 Feb. 2018, interviews by Kati Toivanen; Toivanen, Paperisielut, 22–25, 126, 133, 154–155; Nygård, “Lannanjalostamisesta kiertotalouteen,” 35.
45 In Sweden, private companies were first excluded from the managing of household paper, but it soon became clear that they had the know-how and technology. Bergquist, Lindmark, and Petrusenko, “Creating Value out of Waste,” 19–20. Stokes, Köster, and Sambrook also note that in Germany and Great Britain private companies benefitted when municipalities did not have the capacity or funding to manage their legal responsibility for waste management. Private companies thus came to mostly dominate the waste management business. See Stokes, Köster, and Sambrook, The Business of Waste, e.g., 222–223, 255, 271–274. Carl Zimring, on the other hand, notes that, in the 1990s and early 2000s, scrap dealers in the US were kept out of municipal recycling and often bypassed in favor of garbage haulers. Zimring, Cash for Your Trash, 155–156, 161–162.
46 Vesa Lähteenmäki/Parikkalan Romu Oy, 28 Jan. 2019; Reijo Kyyrä/Hämeenlinnan Puhtaanapito Oy, 5 Feb. 2018, interviews by Kati Toivanen.
47 Environmental Permit Act 735/91, Waste Management Act 1072/93, Waste Regulation 1390/93; Proceedings and Minutes 1990–1995, The Finnish Scrap Dealers’ Association archive; Holger Boström, interview by Kati Toivanen, 8 Jan. 2019; see also Nygård, Kuopasta kiertotalouteen; Nygård, “Lannanjalostamisesta kiertotalouteen.”
48 Bergquist, Lindmark, and Petrusenko, “Creating Value out of Waste,” 5–7, 28.
49 Nygård, “Lannanjalostamisesta kiertotalouteen,” 34–35; Nygård, Kuopasta kiertotalouteen, 92, 95, 107, 110, 112. For more on governmental regulation in Europe, Asia, and North America, see Jones, Profits and Sustainability, 310–323. Jyri Keinänen, 7 Jan. 2019; Markku Raita, 11 Jan. 2019; Harri Merikanto, 29 April 2019; Juuso Luodesmeri, 9 Jan. 2019; Arto Kokko, 1 Feb. 2019; Matti Eskelinen, 10 April 2019; Holger Boström, 8 Jan. 2019; Vesa Kopra, 20 March 2019; Esa Erkko, 16 Jan. 2019; Jari Kortesoja, 23 Jan. 2019, interviews by Kati Toivanen. See also Toivanen, Me saamme maailman riittämään, 212–221, 230–232.
50 Bergquist, Lindmark, and Petrusenko, “Creating Value out of Waste,” 7.
51 Markku Kuisma, Metsäteollisuuden maa: Suomi, metsät ja kansainvälinen järjestelmä 1620–1920 (Helsinki, 2006).
52 On the paper industry and the environment, see, e.g., Niklas Jensen-Eriksen, Läpimurto. Metsäteollisuus kasvun, integraation ja kylmän sodan Euroopassa 1950–1973 (Helsinki, 2007), 300–310. Also see Toivanen, Paperisielut, 17–19; Heikki Melajärvi/Paperinkeräys Oy, interview by Kati Toivanen, 10 Jan. 2018; Historical News Collection, Paperinkeräys Oy company archives, Helsinki, Finland.
53 Toivanen, Paperisielut, 17, 22–25; Erkki Vaalama, Enso-Gutzeit Oy Pankakosken kartonkitehdas 1912–1987. Enso Gutzeit Oy Pankakosken tehdas. 75-vuotisjuhlajulkaisu (Imatra, 1987), 41, 76, 84–94. Vaalama mentions that wastepaper was already used in Pankakoski in the 1940s and even before the war. See also Jorma Ahvenainen, Enso-Gutzeit Oy 1872–1992. II osa, 1924–1992 (Jyväskylä, 1992), 624; Ahvenainen mentions that Enso-Gutzeit began using wastepaper in 1980s. On other countries, see, e.g., Stokes, Köster, and Sambrook, The Business of Waste, 223–224.
54 Niklas Jensen-Eriksen, “A Potentially Crucial Advantage: Export Cartels as a Source of Power for Weak Nations,” Revue Économique 63, no. 6 (Nov. 2013): 1085–1104.
55 Susanna Fellman, “Kilpailupolitiikka koordinoidussa markkinataloudessa—Kartelli- ja kilpailulainsäädäntö Suomessa 1958–1988 institutionaalis-taloushistoriallisesta näkökulmasta,” Kansantaloudellinen aikakauskirja 106, no. 2 (2010): 141–161.
56 Paperinkeräys Oy took the name Encore Ympäristöpalvelut Oy in 2019, and it became part of the recycling giant Stena Recycling in 2024. In this article, we use the name Paperinkeräys because of the research period.
57 Enso-Gutzeit Oy (Stora Enso), Näsijärvi Oy (bankrupt in 1989), G.A. Serlachius Oy (Metsä Tissue Oyj), Yhtyneet Paperitehtaat Oy (UPM); Aalto, Paperinkeräys Oy. Historiikki 1943–1968; Risto Marttila, ed., Paperinmakuista elämääkö? Historiaa ja tarinoita (Keuruu, 2003), 18.
58 Toivanen, Paperisielut, 22–25; Henrik Jankes, former commercial manager of Paperinkeräys Oy, interview by Kati Toivanen, 9 Feb. 2018.
59 Toivanen, Paperisielut, 27–29.
60 1948: 31,000 tons; 1951: 11,000 tons; 1955: 38,000 tons; 1960: 78,000 tons; 1970: 140,000 tons; 1975: 160,500 tons; 1979: 216,000 tons; 1984: 310,000 tons; 1989: 430,000 tons. See Toivanen, Kiertotalouden ytimessä, 19–20, 40, 48.
61 Toivanen, Paperisielut, 31–32. Kyösti Pöyry, former CEO of Paperinkeräys Oy, 17 May 2018; Merja Helander/Paperinkeräys Oy/Keräystuote Oy/L&T Oy, 13 Feb. 2018, interviews by Kati Toivanen.
62 Unpublished history, written by former chairman Seppo Hannonen in 1994, Paperinkerääjät ry association archive, Forssa, Finland; Toivanen, Paperisielut, 29. Disputes in the wastepaper business led to many cases overseen by the Finnish Competition Authority during the late 1980s and 1990s. Martti Virtanen, research director of the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority, interview by Kati Toivanen, 28 Feb. 2018; Toivanen, Paperisielut, 59–67, 84–86, 120–126.
63 Documents concerning the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority, Suomen Keräystuote Oy company archive, Tampere, Finland; Jussi Juutilainen/Keräystuote Oy, interview by Kati Toivanen, 2 March 2018. Also, for a comparison of the Finnish wastepaper case in the early 1970s with the situation in North America and Europe, see Jones, Profits and Sustainability, 149–151.
64 Toivanen, Paperisielut, 30; Jussi Juutilainen, interview by Kati Toivanen, 2 March 2018.
65 Raili, Esko and Mika Laine/Railapa Oy/Envor Group Oy, interview by Kati Toivanen, 14 Feb. 2018.
66 Reijo Kyyrä, interview by Kati Toivanen, 5 Feb. 2018.
67 Toivanen, Paperisielut, especially 33–47.
68 For example, A. Ahlström’s Karhula factory, Corenso United’s Pori and Varkaus factories, and Yhtyneet Paperitehtaat’s Kaipola factory.
69 Industry representatives: Olli Haaso/Yhtyneet Paperitehtaat, Kaipola factory, 6 Feb. 2018; Pekka Harkki/Enso-Gutzeit/Yhtyneet Paperitehtaat/Corenso United Ltd., Pori & Varkaus factories, 2 Feb. 2018, interviews by Kati Toivanen.
70 Toivanen, Paperisielut, 38–45, 60, 87–101. Jussi Juutilainen, 2 March 2018; Pekka Harkki, 2 Feb. 2018, interviews by Kati Toivanen.
71 Toivanen, Paperisielut, 130–145, 157.
72 Founded the same day as The Finnish Scrap Dealers’ Association, Romu Keskus Oy, whose name changed to Romukeskus Oy in 1983, is still operating.
73 Oy Romurauta Ab 1937–1974, and Osuuskunta Teollisuuden Romu (OTR) 1977–2010. Only two brief histories of the purchasing companies written in Finnish exist, one by Mervi Hirvikallio (Osuuskunta Teollisuuden Romu OTR 1977–2010, Vantaa, 2014) and another by Keijo Luukkonen (Oy Romurauta Ab, unpublished), each of whom worked for those particular companies.
74 Toivanen, Kiertotalouden ytimessä, 35–36; Toivanen, Me saamme maailman riittämään, 92–97.
75 Jalas, Kestävää kierrätystä, 24.
76 Minutes of the Oy Romurauta Ab general meetings 1956–1978, folder 59, OTR archive, ELKA.
77 Aside from Romukeskus Oy, at least four older and larger scrap dealer companies took the role of wholesaler or founded a new company: Kuusakoski Oy, Neliteräs Oy (founded by Veljekset Soini Oy, later Rautasoini Oy), Romuliikkeiden Tukku Oy, Häti Ky, and Jyväskylän Rauta ja Romu Oy. They negotiated contracts with the foundry and steel industry, and smaller scrap dealer companies provided raw material to the industry through these wholesalers. See Toivanen, Me saamme maailman riittämään, 96–97.
78 General Meeting 4 Nov. 1977, minutes of the Oy Romurauta Ab general meetings 1956–1978, folder 59, OTR Archive, ELKA; Mervi Hirvikallio/OTR, by phone, interview by Kati Toivanen, 2019; Hirvikallio, OTR 1977–2010, 8–9.
79 See Bergquist, Lindmark, and Petrusenko, “Creating Value out of Waste,”12–13; On Oy Rautatarvike Järnbruksförnödenhet Ab (JBF), which operated from 1919 to 1930, see Toivanen, One Man’s Waste is Another Man’s Business, 27–29.
80 Toivanen, One Man’s Waste is Another Man’s Business, 29; Toivanen, Me saamme maailman riittämään, 96, 243.
81 Markku Raita, 11 Jan. 2019; Antero Vaittinen, 14 Jan. 2019; Jyri Keinänen/Romu Keinänen Oy, 7 Jan. 2019; Sini Lökström, 4 March 2019, interviews by Kati Toivanen.
82 Mansel G. Blackford, A History of Small Business in America (Chapel Hill and London, 2003), 3, 200.
83 Jouni Järvensivu/Fincumet Oy, interview by Kati Toivanen, 21 Jan. 2019.
84 Jouni Järvensivu/Fincumet Oy, interview by Kati Toivanen, 21 Jan. 2019.
85 Compare with Bergquist, Lindmark, and Petrusenko, “Creating Value out of Waste,” 13–14.
86 Lajunen and Hämäläinen, Kuusakoski.
87 Nygård, Kuopasta kiertotalouteen, 98–99; see also Susanna Perko and Touko Perko, Mustasta valkoiseksi: Ekokem, ongelmajätteet ja yhteiskunta 1979–2004 (Riihimäki, 2004).
88 Kristiina, Liisa and Kustaa Keskitalo, interview by Kati Toivanen, 9 Jan. 2019; The Finnish Scrap Dealers’ Association’s Announcement, 27 Sep. 2021, accessed 27 Jan. 2025, https://romukauppiaat.fi/uutiset/suomen-akkukerays-osaksi-eurajoen-romun-konsernia; Toivanen, Me saamme maailman riittämään, 205–209; Vesa Kopra, Perheyritysten palveluksessa. Memoirs, Harjavalta, 2016.
89 Tuomas Möttönen, “Kuusakoski, Victor,” in Suomen talouselämän vaikuttajat (Helsinki, 2008), accessed 27 Jan. 2025, http://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:sks-tev-001543; Lajunen and Hämäläinen, Kuusakoski; Toivanen, Me saamme maailman riittämään, 159. Markku Raita, 11 Jan. 2019; Ola Eklund/Kuusakoski Oy, 25 July 2019; Vesa Kopra, 30 March 2019; Matti Nyyssönen/Kajaanin Romu Oy, 10 April 2019; Jyri Keinänen, 7 Jan. 2019, interviews by Kati Toivanen.
90 Kari Evesti, 23 Jan. 2019; Matti Soini, 16 Jan. 2019; Piia Kramsu, 3 Feb. 2019, interviews by Kati Toivanen.
91 Arto Kokko, 1 Feb. 2019; Tapio Koski, by phone, Oct. 2019; Kari Evesti, 23 Feb. 2019, interviews by Kati Toivanen.
92 See, e.g., Zimring, Cash for Your Trash, 156; Jones, Profits and Sustainability, 161; Bergquist, Lindmark, and Petrusenko, “Creating Value out of Waste,” 6, 15, 25, 30.
93 Liisa and Kristiina Keskitalo, 9 Jan. 2019; Vesa Kopra, 30 March 2019; Göran Rönnberg/Stena Recycling Oy, 22 Oct. 2019; Juuso Luodesmeri/Eurajoen Romu Oy/Eurajoki Group, 9 Jan. 2019; Markku Lintula, 12 March 2019; Veijo Tapanainen, 13 Feb. 2019, interviews by Kati Toivanen. Also, Eurajoen Romu Oy & Romukeskus Oy, Public Announcements, 4 and 9 March 2020; “Tiedote yrityskaupasta,” 27 Sep. 2022, accessed 27 Jan. 2025, https://romukauppiaat.fi/uutiset/tiedote-yrityskaupasta; “KKV siunasi kaupat: Stena Recycling ja Encore Ympäristöpalvelut yhdistyvät,” Uusiouutiset, 14 Oct. 2022, accessed 27 Jan. 2025, https://www.uusiouutiset.fi/kkv-siunasi-kaupat-stena-recycling-ja-encore-ymparistopalvelut-yhdistyvat/; “Stena Recycling vahvistaa toimintaansa Varsinais-Suomessa,” 3 Dec. 2024, accessed 27 Jan. 2025, https://www.stenarecycling.com/fi/uutiset-tietoa-kierratyksesta/uutishuone/2024/stena-recycling-vahvistaa-toimintaansa-varsinais-suomessa/.
94 Markku Raita, interview by Kati Toivanen, 11 Jan. 2019.
95 Toivanen, Kiertotalouden ytimessä, 6, 82.
96 Max Liboiron and Josh Lepawsky, Discard Studies: Wasting, Systems, and Power (Cambridge, MA, 2022), 20–21.