The new Waste Act of 2021 requires the use of electronic transfer documents – why react to the obligation now?

Pinjan-sähköinen-siirtoasiakirjasovellusIn Finland, the Waste Act has required the use of a transfer document for the transport of certain waste since 2012. The purpose of a transfer document is to ensure proper handling and transport of hazardous waste and to create the conditions for monitoring and controlling transport. At present, the transfer document must contain information regarding the type, quality, quantity and origin of the waste, as well as information on the destination and time of transportation, and the details of the driver. The transfer document must be archived for three years. 

The new Finnish Waste Act, which is currently under preparation, will bring changes to the transfer document procedure. In the future, transfer document obligation will also apply to POP waste, i.e. waste containing persistent organic pollutants. In addition, a new requirement is to include in the transfer document information on the treatment method of the waste at the destination. The new Waste Act with its new obligations is expected to enter into force by summer 2021. 

The new Waste Act encourages operators in the circular economy to switch to electronic transfer documents. From the beginning of 2022, the obligation to submit information to the national register of transfer documents, maintained by SYKE, will enter into force as part of the new Waste Act. The information must be provided electronically within three months from the end of the transport.

Switch to the electronic transfer documents now and streamline the entire supply chain at the same time

You should switch to an application designed for managing electronic transfer documents now. It saves you from wrestling with paper documents and manual data transfer. The advantages of an electronic transfer document are its ease of use, traceability and archivability in electronic form. In the application, document templates are always at hand. 

Thanks to the electronic transfer document, everyday life is made much easier as the time spent on document management is reduced. For example, drivers can access the application at the destination on their mobile device, allowing information to be automatically transferred to the office without having to wait for paper documents. The data can also be automatically transferred from the application to SYKE’s transfer document register. With the right system, it is easy to prepare a variety of reports directly from the database, which means that you no longer have to work on the data in separate Excel spreadsheets.

The device and platform independent application serves multiple user groups

Pinja has more than 30 years of experience in supply chain and material flow management in the energy and circular economy. That is why we decided to develop a service for processing electronic transfer documents alongside our Flow and Once systems. Our electronic transfer document service works as a fully browser-based cloud service. The user interface of the application has been designed in accordance with the needs and properties of office and mobile use in mind. 

One of the most important features of the application is the modern interface, which makes it possible to implement automatic data transfer via interfaces to various systems, such as the national transfer document register, a supply chain management system, a weighing system, or other systems used by the customer. The application makes transports more agile and straightforward, as documents are available to all parties in real time. 

The electronic transfer document has the following benefits: several transfer documents in the same transport, the possibility to add attachments to transfer documents, as well as sharing a transfer document by using a link. The application also scales to the needs of growth and meets all regulatory requirements, including those for hazardous waste transports.

Learn more:

If you want to know more about the requirements for transfer documents in the new Waste Act, read our guide Electronic movement documents as a tool for transport management and digitalization.

Electronic movement documents as tool

In the guide, we explain in more detail the possibilities and benefits of electronic movement documents, and open up the implications of the new Waste Act for the processing of movement documents.

Read more: 

Flow by Pinja - a system for improving the efficiency of material flows in circular economy business
Once by Pinja - supply chain management system
Pinja's electronic transfer document service

Suvi Strandman

Suvi Strandman

I work in sales at Pinja's bioenergy and circular economy unit working on digital solutions in both the domestic and international markets. I find working with customers to be meaningful and relevant. In my free time, you can find me involved in various sports activities, mostly on ski trails in winter and jogging trails in summer.

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