”Kaikki eivät halua kaatopaikkaa”: tapaustutkimus Laajalahden kaatopaikasta

In the early 1960s, Finland was a rapidly urbanizing country which as a process increased the amount of all sorts of waste materials produced in the growing cities. The city of Helsinki as well as the neighbouring township of Espoo experienced difficulties in locating suitable sites for their mounting waste. As a solution, Espoo proposed Laajalahti bay located between Helsinki and Espoo as a site for a new sanitary landfill. The city of Helsinki accepted the proposal setting up a joint committee to plan the landfill site in October 1963. The planning progressed slowly however given crucial changes in legislation over water conservation and in attitudes about waste management and nature conservation before the planning of the site was abandoned in May 1973. This article on environmental history analyses the conflicting perspectives over the proposed landfill site. Hence, it sheds new light on the growing impact of nature conservation as well as environmental awareness in the municipal governance in Finland.