History and development of Finnish landfill research: impacts of legislative changes and EC policies

Legislative changes have greatly altered waste management in Finland. The adoption of the EC waste policies in particular has created a pressure to dispose less waste on landfills and increase the sustainable use and recycling of natural resources. Implementation of new policies has created a need to improve the existing landfilling practices and recycling on landfills, and to increase the knowledge about landfills in general. This is likely to have affected the course of landfill-related research in Finland. In this study, we investigate the development of Finnish landfill research by studying the trends in the number and the focus of publications on landfill research. The impacts of legislative changes and EC policies on research activities were examined. Additionally, we reviewed the publication of research results within and outside of the scientific community and studied the development of public interest in landfills. We show that legislative changes have affected both the activity and themes of the Finnish landfill research. Waste management professionals in particular are now paying more attention to landfill questions in Finland. The study also shows that publication of Finnish research papers in international scientific media has increased during the recent years.