Karisma shopping centre’s sustainable solutions cover also waste management


The Karisma shopping centre in Lahti, Finland, is situated close to nature and not far from the city centre. For many years already, Karisma’s environmental friendliness, energy efficiency and waste management have been backed up by BREEAM* environmental certification.

The Karisma shopping centre opened in 2011 and is situated on Kauppiaankatu in Karisto.

European Green Capital 2021

Lahti’s selection as European Green Capital 2021 seemed a natural continuation of the environmental solutions that have already been made – both in Lahti and at Karisma. The environmental actions taken by the City of Lahti and local companies serve as a viable model for other cities. For example, to prevent eutrophication, a new water protection method has been developed in Lahti that pumps water from the lake, filters out any phosphorus and returns the water back to the lake.

Vesijärvi is Lahti’s biggest lake, covering an area of 109 km2 and stretching 25 kilometres.

A wide range of environmental actions

One example of Karisma’s environmental responsibility is the Rinki eco take-back point that is situated in the immediate vicinity of the parking lot and is widely used by locals. Property Manager Tero Honkanen and Marketing Coordinator Maria Lång point out that taking care of environmental issues responsibly is natural for the team at Karisma. The Rinki eco take-back point uses a single Europress CombiMax waste compactor for recycling packaging plastic.

An Rinki eco take-back point is situated in the immediate vicinity of the parking lot at Karisma.

Increasing amounts of cardboard waste

The Karisma shopping centre has 60 retail shops and numerous cafés and restaurants that generate not only biowaste and plastic waste but also enormous quantities of cardboard waste. In summer 2019, Europress installed new SMART waste management equipment that has made it easier to handle all the cardboard and, even better, has operated continuously without any downtime.

In order for the shopping centre to operate smoothly, it is important that its waste management equipment works faultlessly. Europress installed seven new SMART waste compactors and one Balex-30 waste baler at Karisma. The SMART technology integrates the waste management equipment with the web, allowing data to be collected and analysed. Monitoring and optimising waste transports is key to ensuring efficient waste management.

The Karisma shopping centre generates not only biowaste and plastic waste but also enormous quantities of cardboard waste.

Reliable maintenance services

According to Property Manager Tero Honkanen, only a few service calls have been required since the equipment was installed two years ago. Contacting the Europress service team has been easy when needed, and the optimisation of the equipment ensures that containers are emptied only when they are full. Honkanen receives an automatic notification on his mobile device when the containers require emptying. The same optimisation features is available on all Europress waste compactors. In case of malfunctions, the fault can be analysed online using SMART remote diagnostics.

Karisma’s waste management facilities are close to nature in a covered space using a wall feed solution. The Citymarket food store has its own waste management point on the other side of the building, where Europress Combio compactors are used for biowaste, Europress Duomax compactors for energy waste and Europress H&G screw compactors for cardboard waste.

Karisma Property Manager Tero Honkanen and Marketing Coordinator Maria Lång together with Europress Sales Director Kimmo Jussila.
* “BREEAM (Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method) is a British system for rating eco-efficient properties. BREEAM assesses the environmental impact of a building, paying attention to such factors as management processes, energy and water consumption, materials, land use and transport. These factors are scored on the basis of which the building can be awarded a BREEAM rating of pass, good, very good or excellent.”

Waste management devices in use at Shopping centre Karisma


Europress CombiMax

The most popular waste compactor option for many uses

Waste fractions: Cardboard, plastic, mixed waste and incineration waste

Europress Combio

Durable pendulum compactors for wet waste.

Waste fractions: Organic waste, damp mixed waste

Europress DuoMax

Stationary waste compactors for large amounts of waste.

Waste fractions: Cardboard, plastic, mixed waste and incineration waste

Europress H&G screw compactors

All-round solution for large amounts of waste.

Waste fractions: Cardboard, wood waste and PET bottles

Europress Balex-30

The Europress Balex-30 is a compact and versatile vertical waste baler with 30 tons of compression force producing very dense 280–320 kg bales.

Waste fractions: Cardboard, plastics and textiles