Managing Director’s Review 2024: Our Business Growth Gained Significant Momentum
Projects aligned with our refined growth strategy advanced rapidly in 2024. We acquired Suomen Energiamurske Oy and initiated the development of Finland’s largest plastics recycling plant on its site, following a phased startup model. We also expanded our business through the acquisition of the biocomposite company Elastopoli Oy.
Our operations in northern Finland continue to serve as the backbone of our company, with excellent reliability and profitability within the framework of both the sorting plant in Rusko, Oulu, and waste procurement in the ecopower plant. Customer satisfaction reached record levels, and the satisfaction and profitability of our environmentally focused customer partnerships will remain key indicators of our company’s success.
We Clarified and Refined Our Strategy
We updated Syklo’s strategy in early 2024. As part of our strategic work, we refined our priorities to focus on organic growth in plastics recycling, the production of biocomposites, and the systematic increase of the recycling rate. We are targeting substantial growth: Our aim is to increase the current revenue of approximately 20 million euros to over 100 million euros by 2030, driven primarily by the new plastics recycling and biocomposite plants and their scalable expansions. In line with our strategy, we are also investing in the more efficient recovery and material sales of other recycled fractions under our management.
Customer-Driven Development of Operations in Oulu
Syklo’s operations in Oulu are responsible for overseeing waste management for half of Finland. Our sorting plant in Rusko, Oulu, treats corporate waste, such as construction and demolition waste, as well as commercial and industrial waste. Despite the national economic downturn, our Rusko sorting plant received a substantial volume of waste, 66,091 tonnes (2023: 75,249). We reached a record availability rate of 78.4% at the sorting plant, marking a three-percentage-point increase over the previous year. Of the fractions produced in our Oulu operations, 97.4% were either recycled or recovered. The recycling rate remained at the previous year’s level at 5.9%. The challenge to improving the recycling rate was considered to be the lack of economically and operationally sensible recycling routes. However, this is expected to improve, particularly for plastics, with the planned investments in new recycling plants. The implementation of the Syklo Community app, designed to enhance customer cooperation, progressed well, with as many as 13% of contract customers already using it for advance registration of their loads. We initiated pilot measures in partnership with several customers to enhance recycling rates. For example, in collaboration with Napapiirin Residuum, we launched the collection and further processing of hard plastics. The initiative demonstrated a strong demand for environmentally responsible collection solutions, and that it was even more financially viable as a whole for all parties involved.
We achieved excellent results in the waste procurement for the Oulu ecopower plant, delivering 145,943 (133,372) tonnes of waste for incineration. We launched a development project in 2024 that is focused on developing the ecopower plant, examining the profitability and feasibility of a pre-treatment plant for combustible mixed waste in collaboration with Oulun Energia’s energy production team.
We implemented a broad range of safety initiatives across our entire organisation. Our safety index reached a full 100%, exceeding the target level by 2%. At Syklo, the systematic development of fire and personal safety is a top priority. Due to recent fires in the industry, the waste and circular economy sectors are now receiving heightened public attention. Thanks to our investments in fire safety and the expertise and practices of our trained personnel, we experienced no serious fires in 2024. A few incipient fires, caused by batteries, among other factors, were successfully brought under control through effective early-stage fire suppression.
We at Syklo have been operating in Rusko, Oulu, since the start of our operations, under the environmental permit of Kiertokaari Oy. However, this is about to change, as we received our own environmental permit on 11 December 2024, allowing for an annual waste volume of 200,000 tonnes. The permit also accounts for our planned future development investments.
Our Operations in Hyvinkää and Investment in Plastics Recycling
In January 2024, we acquired the entire share capital of Suomen Energiamurske Oy. The company was established as a subsidiary of Syklo, providing us with a growth platform in Southern Finland in line with our strategy. In 2024, Suomen Energiamurske received a total of 7,706 tonnes of waste at the Hyvinkää circular economy hub. In addition, we provided facilities and services to several waste treatment companies and processed materials on behalf of our customers. In 2024, we made significant investments in developing the operations of the Hyvinkää circular economy hub. We have upgraded our machinery, enhanced safety measures, and improved building technology. On 18 December 2024, we purchased an additional 2 hectares of land from the City of Hyvinkää at the edge of the property, where we plan to implement various recycling and material handling solutions.
At the end of January 2024, Syklo Terra Oy, a Syklo Group subsidiary established for plastics recycling, acquired technology licences from Impact Recycling Ltd. (IR), a company specialising in advanced mechanical plastics recycling. These licences enable us to build plants and sell their products across Europe. Using this technology, which is based on the utilisation of density differences, we plan to build Finland’s largest plastics recycling plant at the Hyvinkää circular economy hub. The plant will boost Finland’s plastics recycling capacity by up to 50%, offering the market an annual processing capacity of approximately 50,000 tonnes. To advance the development of the plant, we chose to proceed with a phase-by-phase approach, beginning design work and earthworks at the end of 2024. We received an amendment to the environmental permit required for the plastics recycling plant on 12 December 2024, and we will determine the next steps in early 2025.
With Biocomposite, We Aim to Produce Higher Value-Added Products
Between June and September, we carried out share transactions that enabled us to acquire the entire share capital of Elastopoli Oy. The company has developed a unique patented technology based on wet stripping, used to produce a biocomposite suitable for a wide range of applications, including electronic products, the car industry, furniture, and consumer goods. We now have a pilot line in Sastamala that produces biocomposite, through which we have demonstrated the functionality of the technology and serve a broad range of international customers across multiple industrial sectors. With synergy benefits in mind, we decided to relocate the pilot line to our circular economy hub in Hyvinkää at the end of 2024. The transfer is scheduled to take place at the end of the first quarter of 2025.
The biocomposite’s raw material is 60–70% recycled fibre and 30–40% recycled plastic. Naturally, virgin materials can also be used, depending on customer needs. Due to the plastic raw material component, this technology has strong synergy with the previously described IR plastics recycling solution and Finland’s largest plastics recycling plant. We are planning to build an industrial-scale biocomposite production line with a capacity of 8,000 tonnes, which would also be located within our circular economy hub in Hyvinkää. We received the environmental permit for this at the same time as the corresponding permit for the IR plant.
From Customer Relationships to Partnerships—Strengthened Collaboration and a Significant Improvement in Our Net Promoter Scoreti
Circular economy operations are highly competitive and evolve at a rapid pace. We invested significantly in improving our customer relations throughout 2024. We added resources to our customer service and developed new solutions in collaboration with our customers. Our Net Promoter Score (NPS) improved significantly in 2024, rising to 42 (25). We consider the development of electronic service channels, such as the Syklo App, and systematic customer collaboration in the reception and treatment of new recycled materials as key priorities for advancing customer management.
Syklo is part of the Oulun Energia Group. You can read the summary of Oulun Energia’s annual and sustainability report in English (full report is in finnish only).
