FAQ - Frequently asked questions
This page contains some of the most frequently asked questions and answers about contaminated land areas.
An area where hazardous substances left by human activity in the soil cause harm or pose a significant risk to the environment or health.
Contaminated soil is still a somewhat unknown environmental health issue. According to the current understanding, health hazards are rare, but possible.
Although hazardous substances are found in the soil, this does not necessarily mean that they also pose health hazards. Because these substances are usually present in the soil in relatively low concentrations, they are not, as is commonly believed, directly toxic to humans.
Health hazards are only possible if a person is exposed to hazardous substances, i.e. they are in some form of direct contact with hazardous substances in the soil. If the exposure is high enough, it may be harmful to the health. The extent of exposure is influenced by the properties of the substance, the concentration of the substance in the soil, the environmental conditions, the duration of exposure and its frequency.
One example of a challenging situation is when groundwater used for drinking water is contaminated. Volatile substances, on the other hand, can end up in indoor air through the foundations of buildings. In the case of small children crawling and playing on the ground, a significant risk may arise by the children eating soil and getting it in their mouths from their hands. In some cases, hazardous substances cause discomfort, such as in the form of foul odours.
Substances have very different effects and concentration levels, whose adverse impacts vary. Many of the hazardous substances found in the soil are the same as the various chemical products and preparations used in the household, such as motor oils, paints or solvents. Substances that are already toxic at low concentrations are considered particularly difficult to degrade over time and accumulate in organisms. These include so-called persistent organic pollutants, such as PFAS and PCB compounds.
To date, there are approximately 30,000 areas suspected of being contaminated listed in Finland. Some of these have already been remediated and some have been found to be uncontaminated. A large number of them are still in progress, i.e. investigations and remediations are still under way.
Compared to other European countries, there are very few areas to investigate in Finland. For example, there are hundreds of thousands of sites in France and Germany. In addition, the majority of Finland’s sites are smaller, such as fuel supply points at village shops.
In particular, they are found in areas where hazardous substances (chemicals) or waste have been used, prepared, processed or stored. Contamination may have been caused either by a single accident or by long-term emissions from ordinary operations. In addition to local emissions, contamination can be caused by loading carried into an area from outside by air and water.
Contamination may also be caused by fill soil or waste brought in from elsewhere. The most commonly contaminated areas are old industrial, storage, port, fuel and service station areas as well as landfills.
In Finland, 250–300 contaminated areas are remediated each year.
Provisions on remediation responsibilities are laid down in the Environmental Protection Act, according to which contaminated soil and groundwater must be remediated if they pose significant risks (section 133 of the Environmental Protection Act). In addition, the Waste Act requires that soil and other waste generated by remediation must be treated appropriately (Waste Act). Soil contamination must be taken into account in construction projects, which is laid down in more detail in the Land Use and Building Act and Construction Act.
Read more:
The most common reason for remediation is a change in land use and construction in the area. Former industrial and port areas located in places central to municipalities and cities have been zoned for, among other things, residential use, which has made their remediation topical. Some of the remediation operations involve, for example, safeguarding the quality of groundwater, while others are related to the sale and rental of properties.
Remediation is necessary whenever a site is found to be contaminated, i.e. when hazardous substances pose a significant environmental or health risk, on the basis of investigations and risk assessments. In such cases, the primary objective of remediation is to remove hazardous substances, alter their properties or reduce their migration so that environmental and health risks are kept to an acceptable level.
Remediation may also involve:
- the removal of pollution-related remediation responsibilities;
- increasing the value and stature of the area;
- possibilities for future land use;
- the constructability of the area; or
- the need to eliminate a potential factor of concern and fear.
The importance of the remediation factors varies from case to case as well as at different stages of project implementation.
The treatment and disposal of contaminated soil elsewhere are activities subject to an environmental permit. Most of the soil material is taken to landfills. Landfills have used soil as covering material, in structures or when closing the fill area. In the future, the aim will be to make use of excavated soils in earthworks elsewhere, either in its present form or after being treated, replacing natural soil and rock material needed in construction.
Especially in the planning of extensive land use alteration and construction projects, the possibility of utilising not only clean soils, but also soils containing hazardous substances should be explored. On the other hand, the appropriate placement of the activities planned for the area can reduce the need for its remediation and the excavation of soil. These methods can be used to support not only the sparing use of natural resources, but also to reduce the procurement of substitute materials as well as achieve significant savings.
Property owners should find out and know the operating history of their areas/properties. If the information reveals that there may be hazardous substances in the soil, it is advisable to determine the actual state of the area. Soil surveys can be used to investigate pollution in the area in greater detail.
A private person or property owner can check whether the property/area is in the National Soil Database System (MATTI). Maintained by the Finnish Supervisory Agency, MATTI contains information on the state of the soil in areas, potential soil contamination, and any surveys and remediation being conducted in the area. Even if a land area is not found in MATTI, the soil in the area may be contaminated and there may be a need for remediation. MATTI also includes sites that have been shown to be free of contamination.
Information on an individual site can be obtained by requesting it from the Soil Protection Group of the Finnish Supervisory Agency or from the Environment Centres of Helsinki or Turku. In environmental matters handled by the Finnish Supervisory Agency, the customer service for environmental matters provides advice to customers, answers general environmental questions and provides guidance on taking measures. If necessary, customers can contact the environmental authority handling the matter through customer service.
Customer service on environmental issues:
Telephone: +358 295 256 920
Monday–Friday 9:00–15:00
E-mail: [email protected]
The responsibility for costs of contaminated soil may be borne by many different parties, such as the polluter, the owner and holder of an area, a municipality, a party implementing a construction project or the government.
The polluter is primarily responsible for the remediation of contaminated soil. Secondary responsibility is borne by the owner of the area, to which the responsibility is transferred if the polluter cannot be identified or reached or if the polluter cannot be made to fulfil its remediation obligation. This is due to the fact that, in older cases, the polluter is not always liable, either on the basis of the content of legislation or for other reasons. In the absence of other responsible parties, a municipality may also be responsible for remediation costs in certain situations.
In connection with a zoning or construction project, the party that benefits from the change in the use of an area is usually responsible for its investigation and remediation.
An environmental authority may order the government to investigate the contamination if the polluter cannot be identified or reached, or they are unable to bear the costs. In addition, the investigation or remediation must be manifestly unreasonable to parties other than the polluter.
In order to receive state funding, the potential for environmental and health risks must be significant and sufficient funding must be allocated for this work in the state budget.
You can find information on support for these so-called ‘orphan areas’:
The polluter or the holder of the area is responsible for investigation and remediation, but if they cannot be held liable for any reason, the area becomes what is known as an ‘orphan site’. The remediation of such areas requires external funding. The precondition for funding is that the polluting activities have ended and the remediation costs are unreasonable for the current property owner or other responsible party.
Discretionary government support may be granted to investigate or remediate soil, groundwater or sediment contamination.
The tasks related to government support have been centralised to the Finnish Supervisory Agency, which runs the Clean Soil Programme. The State can support the investigation of contamination or the remediation of contaminated sites in two ways:
Government grants for investigating or remediating contaminated areas are applied for through an electronic application system. It is also possible to use a printable application form, but it may slow down the progress of the application. Grants are awarded provided that there are funds available. We provide up-to-date information on the grant situation every two months on the Maaperakuntoon.fi website.
Instructions for applying:
Projects in contaminated areas may involve several actors, including authorities, private persons, municipalities and companies. Consulting firms, contractors and other companies in the field often perform work related to the actual soil investigation and remediation.
We have compiled information on actors on these pages:
There may be similarities between contaminated land area projects and other procurements, such as for earthworks contracts, but in PIMA projects, for example, concepts, remediation methods, occupational safety, soil properties and sorting and analysis techniques may differ from traditional earthworks projects.
We have compiled tips for PIMA procurements:
We have compiled instructions to help you get started, because specialised know-how and a wide range of measures are needed when an area is contaminated and investigation is required.
Read instructions:
The duration and cost depend on the site. For example, on the basis of government grants, the costs of first-stage investigations start at a few thousand euros. It is always a good idea to request tenders from several actors.
Remediation is a form of restoration, in which hazardous substances are removed based on the risk they pose. Restoration is a generic term for all measures that restore contaminated land to an acceptable state, such as by means of isolating structures. In some cases, risk management is sufficient in a contaminated area, which will not actually be remediated, but instead the concentrations and migration of hazardous substances are monitored or restricted to control risks.
In practice, investigating contamination involves investigating the operating history of the area, conducting field and laboratory surveys, and assessing environmental, health and migration risks. Investigations are conducted to assess the need for further research and, finally, the contamination of the area, environmental and health risks and the need for remediation.
Containing information on approximately 30,000 sites, the National Soil Database System (MATTI) covers all of Finland.
MATTI contains information on areas where hazardous substances may have entered the soil from current or previous activities within the area. The activities were generally known to have caused soil contamination. The actual status of each area is determined by operating history data and field studies. Some areas listed in MATTI are included due to problems found there. Some have already been investigated or remediated. Because data was compiled from earlier regional databases, their coverage and reliability vary. Regionally, MATTI covers all of Finland, with the exception of the Åland Islands.
Areas are included in MATTI based on the activities that have been or are being carried out in the area that may pose a risk to soil quality.
MATTI contains information on:
- Land area locations (address, coordinates, property identifiers),
- Activities previously or currently carried out within the area (e.g. industry, ongoing/closed, hazardous substances used)
- Property found within the area (property identifiers, information on whether there is a need for investigation or restrictions on use in the area)
- Property owners and holders as well as operators (name, contact details)
- Environmental conditions (e.g. soil type, distance to the nearest inhabited building, groundwater area, water body or nature reserve)
- Reports, official measures and remediations conducted (e.g. date and results, inspections conducted in the area, permits granted, date of remediation, remediation method and soil volume treated)
On the basis of the available information and the measures taken, areas are classified into three categories:
- need for investigation
- assessed or remediated, and
- no need for remediation
Information on possible needs for measures concerning the state of the soil is stored in MATTI on a property-specific basis.
MATTI covers all of Finland, with the exception of the Åland Islands. In MATTI, the information for Helsinki and Turku is presented separately, as the Ministry of the Environment has granted them authority in matters related to contaminated land areas.
he information is mainly public, so it can be readily obtained by requesting it from the authorities. However, MATTI cannot be accessed directly online.
For legal reasons, not all data can be provided in a mass disclosure, as the level of accuracy, currentness and reliability of data on individual sites varies greatly from case to case. Instead, information on individual sites is provided upon request as follows:
- Site-specific information from the environmental authority:
- Soil Protection Group of the Finnish Supervisory Agency: [email protected]
- Helsinki Region: [email protected]
- Turku Region: [email protected] - Regional aggregate data and statistics:
- Soil Protection Group of the Finnish Supervisory Agency: [email protected] - National aggregate data on the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE)
MATTI was created and designed for use by the authorities, and it is mainly used by state and municipal authorities. Within Finland's Environmental Administration, all personnel have the right to view the data. In addition, some state institutions owning land areas are permitted to view data conatined in MATTI. A restricted group within regional administration is responsible for the maintenance and amendment of site-specific data.
The easiest way to resolve the matter is to contact the Soil Protection Group of the Finnish Supervisory Agency. Requests must be submitted to [email protected]. In Turku and Helsinki areas, it is easiest to contact [email protected] and [email protected].
Maintained by the Finnish Environment Institute, the KARPALO map service also provides access to information on all areas listed in MATTI.