In addition to providing computing, data storage and AI services, the new data center will the the World’s Largest District Heat Recovery Scheme. Excess heat produced by the datacenter servers will be captured and routed into the local district heating network serving Espoo, Kirkkonummi, and Kauniainen. The system is set to cover 40% of the annual heating needs for roughly 250,000 households. Reusing this heat is projected to eliminate 400,000 metric tons of CO₂ emissions annually by displacing fossil fuel usage because the power for data center is sourced entirely from renewable energy.

Construction at Hepokorpi has progressed steadily through phases of ground preparation, rock excavation, and steel frame erection, and some of the first building are already built.

The data center needs a lots of power. While Microsoft does not publicly disclose precise, operational server power capacity figures for individual datacenter halls, official environmental impact assessments and project plans provide clear technical estimates: Estimated Electrical Capacity (IT & Infrastructure Load): Up to ~100 MW (with environmental impact assessments for the broader site evaluating total capacity scales around 100 MW to 200 MW across various expansion phases). For this reason the data center seems to be connected to a big new transformer connected to 400 kV power line. That would mean up to almost 300A current taken from 400 kV three phase power line.

It looks the voltage is dropped to 110 kV level that is then sent to the data center buildings, although. Fingrid’s newly built main Hepokorpi primary transmission substation actually steps down the 400 kV grid power to 110 kV using compact Gas-Insulated Switchgear (GIS) technology. From there, regional sub-transmission lines and Caruna’s local distribution network route that 110 kV into Microsoft’s on-site transformers. On-site step-down transformers convert 110 kV to 20 kV (a standard medium-voltage level used in Nordic industrial facilities and distribution networks) that is most probably routed around the campus with medium voltage cables.

There it would be dropped with another transformer to the voltage level used by the data center computers. While Microsoft keeps precise proprietary server supply specs confidential, these follow standard OCP / Open Compute Project hyperscale architectures): Dry-type transformers step the 20 kV down to 400 V 3-phase AC line-to-line (230 V AC line-to-neutral). This feeds the Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) units and Power Distribution Units (PDUs). In Europe typical primary operational voltage feeding the rack server power supplies is 400 V / 230 V AC (3-phase 400 V AC input, delivering 230 V AC per phase). Server rack Power Supply Units (PSUs) convert 230/400 V AC directly down to 48 V DC distributed along the rack busbars. Modern high-density AI nodes (e.g., NVIDIA MGX/DGX racks used in Microsoft Azure AI clusters) rely on 48 V DC (lower losses than legacy 12V systems).

Microsoft’s Finland data-center project demonstrates how computing infrastructure can become part of a city’s heating system. Microsoft says waste heat (roughly 100 MW to 175 MW) from its Finnish data centers will eventually provide heat for around 250,000 people through district heating networks serving Espoo, Kauniainen and Kirkkonummi. The system uses heat pumps to raise the temperature of heat recovered from the data-center cooling system before it is transferred into the municipal heating network. I suspect that this building to be part of the heat pump system.

The recovery system requires infrastructure and energy — but that waste heat which would otherwise be rejected can be put to productive use. This approach could become increasingly valuable in colder regions where district heating is already widespread. Microsoft says the system is scheduled to begin operations in 2027. Combined with Microsoft’s sister facility in Kirkkonummi (Kolabacken), the joint campus footprint accounts for up to 350 MW of total thermal heat recovery for Fortum’s regional district heating grid.

The money will be used to develop data centres as well as supporting infrastructure, and represents the search engine giant’s largest single investment in Europe to date. “This is Google’s largest single investment in Europe and a testament to Finland’s leadership in responsibly building AI infrastructure,” the company said on Wednesday.

The AI infrastructure build-out would involve the development of three new data centres in the country’s north. The locations were selected based on the availability of electrical power and cold climate (temperature ​can drop well below minus 10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) in winter). After investment Google has operations spanning Hamina (current data center site), Kajaani, Muhos, and Vaala.

The investments will include data centres, electricity grid improvements and clean energy and battery projects driving services such as Gemini, Search, Maps and YouTube, Google ​said in a statement. The investment is expected to ⁠contribute some €3.6 billion to Finland’s gross domestic product during the construction phase. The Google investment is expected to support more than 37,000 jobs during construction and boost Finland’s GDP by €3.6bn a year, according to Google. Construction is set to take place in 2027 and 2028.

Illustration made with Google Gemini AI:

There is a question how this will affect the price of the electrical power. Some see this is a right time to plan to build a new nuclear power plant. Building new nuclear facilities typically involves enormous upfront costs, long construction times, and market uncertainty over long horizons. Alongside facility expansion, Google is partnering with local energy companies (including Fortum) to secure power supplies, develop new generation capacity, and support long-term grid stability and decarbonization in Finland. Google has signed a 22-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Fortum. This long-term commitment supports the lifetime extension of the Loviisa nuclear power plant. While Google is also backing onshore wind power (629 MW) and grid-balancing battery storage (a 94 MW system in Kajaani), data centers require steady baseload power even in cold weather without wind. Nuclear power fills this critical need for predictable, zero-emission electricity.

Sources:

Bloomberg: Google to Invest €13 Billion in AI Infrastructure in Finland
YLE: Google to invest $15 billion in AI infrastructure and buy nuclear power in Finland
Google: Google Deepens Commitment to Finland with Two-Year €13 Billion investment in AI Infrastructure
Kauppalehti: Kommentti / Fortumin megadiilistä heräsi heti huoli sähkön hinnasta
ETN: Googlen jätti-investointi: aika on kypsä uudelle ydinvoimalle
Uusiteknologia: Google rakentaa Suomeen 13 miljardilla eurolla uusia datakeskuksia
Reuters: Google to invest $15 billion in AI infrastructure and buy nuclear power in Finland
BBC: Google picks Finland for its largest single investment in Europe

To mark the historical occasion, Elisa’s CEO Topi Manner placed the very last commercial landline call from London to Jarkko Saarimäki, the Director-General of the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency (Traficom), hosted at Elisa’s Phone Museum in Helsinki.

Finland actually held onto its landline infrastructure longer than some of its Nordic neighbors, like Sweden. The real shift began in the 1990s with the rise of the internet, followed by a massive turning point in the early 2000s when mobile phones rapidly eclipsed traditional home phones.

What’s Next? The physical infrastructure cleanup across the country will continue for years as miles of old cabling are systematically collected and recycled. As the old copper wires are pulled from the ground, Finland’s digital future is being built on a combination of high-speed fiber-optic cables and wireless mobile networks (4G,5G and groundwork for the upcoming 6G era).

Source:
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2026/06/30/puhelinlangat-hiljenivat-kaapeleita-kerataan-viela-vuosia/

Links to my related blog posts:
https://www.epanorama.net/blog/2019/08/08/telephone-history-from-tekniikan-museo/
https://www.epanorama.net/blog/2019/01/08/end-of-wired-telephone-is-near-in-finland/
https://www.epanorama.net/blog/2013/04/15/ethernet-and-telephone-can-share-same-wires/
https://www.epanorama.net/blog/2021/04/08/huge-telephone-cable-replaced-with-fiber/
https://www.epanorama.net/blog/2021/05/25/telephone-cables-start-to-dissappear/

On paper, the Donut Lab battery sounds amazing: full charge in less than 10 minutes, 400 Wh/kg energy density, 100,000 charge cycles, extremely safe and low cost. Basically it ticks every single box on a battery wish list. The problem on those promises is that this is all based on Donut’s own claims.

Donut Lab’s Solid-State Battery: Breakthrough or Battery Hype Cycle 2.0?

If you follow battery tech even casually, you’ve probably seen the headlines: a Finnish startup, Donut Lab, claims to have a “production-ready solid-state battery” with specs that read like a wish list from every EV (electric vehicle) engineer on the planet.

We’re talking following promises:
* 5–10 minute full charge
* ~400 Wh/kg energy density
* Up to 100,000 charge cycles
* Improved safety
* Lower cost than current lithium-ion

On paper, that’s not just incremental improvement — those are disruptive (if they are true). But here’s the thing: for technically minded readers, those numbers immediately raise eyebrows.

The Spec Sheet That Breaks Physics?

Solid-state batteries are real. Replacing liquid electrolyte with a solid one *can* enable higher energy density and better safety margins. No argument there. The industry has been chasing this for over a decade.

But combining:

* Ultra-fast charging
* Extremely high cycle life
* High energy density
* Low cost
* Immediate production readiness

…in a single chemistry? That’s where skepticism kicks in.

Hackaday’s deep dive into the Donut battery claims points out a core issue: when you try to reconcile those parameters with known electrochemistry and materials science, the puzzle pieces don’t fit together. Trade-offs are fundamental to battery design. High energy density tends to stress cycle life. Fast charging increases thermal and structural degradation. Solid electrolytes introduce interface challenges and manufacturing complexity.

Typically with battery chemistry you don’t get everything at once. At least, not with any chemistry currently understood. Even a professor from Aalto University publicly stated that parts of the claims would “break the laws of physics” if true. That’s not casual criticism — that’s a red flag.

Where’s the Data?

Another sticking point for engineers: there’s no publicly available technical documentation.

No patents detailing the breakthrough.
No peer-reviewed papers.
No independent lab validation.
No disclosed chemistry.

What exists is a launch video from CES and bold statements about production already happening in Finland.

Yet when journalists asked where the factory is located, the response was essentially: “No comment.” For a claimed production-ready technology in a €200 billion global battery market, that’s unusually opaque.

Industry Reaction: From Skepticism to Panic

The response hasn’t just been academic skepticism.

Yang Hongxin, chairman of Svolt (a major Chinese battery player), reportedly called the claims “a fraud,” stating the parameters are internally contradictory and that industrialization of all-solid-state batteries is still premature.

That’s strong language — but it reflects a broader sentiment in the industry. Many battery veterans see the announcement as part of a familiar pattern: Company announces revolutionary solid-state breakthrough → promises production in two years → timeline quietly slips → repeat.

We’ve seen this cycle before.

And yet — interestingly — Donut Lab’s announcement triggered something real: competitors accelerated their own announcements. In that sense, whether the battery exists or not, the marketing worked brilliantly. It pushed the conversation forward.

The Verge Connection Raises More Questions

Adding complexity, Donut Lab is connected to Verge Motorcycles, which has announced bikes using this battery tech. But financial reports related to Verge have painted a messy picture, and delivery timelines for the motorcycles have reportedly slipped.

For engineers evaluating credibility, financial instability and delayed hardware launches don’t inspire confidence in breakthrough battery mass production.

Meanwhile, Sodium-Ion Creeps Forward

While the spotlight is on “miracle” solid-state cells, sodium-ion batteries are quietly gaining traction. Lower energy density, yes — but cheaper materials, better cold performance, and realistic manufacturing pathways.

For Nordic climates, sodium-ion might be the more pragmatic near-term solution. It’s not as sexy as a physics-defying supercell. But it’s real.

So… Breakthrough or Vaporware?

Here’s the balanced take:

If Donut Lab’s claims are even partially true, this would be one of the most significant battery breakthroughs in decades — potentially reshaping China’s dominance in the sector and redefining EV economics.

But extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

Until we see:
* Independent validation
* Clear chemistry disclosure
* Real production lines
* Shipped products in customer hands

…it remains a fascinating case study in how hype, capital markets, and deep-tech ambition intersect.

For engineers and technically minded observers, the right stance isn’t cynicism — it’s disciplined skepticism.

Because if history has taught us anything about batteries, it’s this: The laws of electrochemistry don’t bend for press releases.

Sources:

Donut Labin omistaja jakoi optioita pilkkahinnalla – Holdingyhtiön osakkeen arvoksi määriteltiin vain 69 senttiä
https://www.talouselama.fi/uutiset/a/b2e4e604-195c-4a59-9e19-ba8ca81efabd

Investigating The Science Claims Behind The Donut Solid State Battery
https://hackaday.com/2026/02/08/investigating-the-science-claims-behind-the-donut-solid-state-battery/

Kommentti / Oli Donut Labin akusta mitä mieltä tahansa, Kiinassa on painettu paniikkinappulaa
https://www.kauppalehti.fi/uutiset/a/8d56c5cd-79c1-47c1-b515-c4c77fe5a98d

Donut Labiin kytkeytyvän Vergen raportti on karua luettavaa – Toimitusjohtajalla on selitys kaikkeen
https://www.kauppalehti.fi/uutiset/a/f942fca5-d7e1-4629-b7aa-2c0ed130c146

Vergen moottoripyörien toimitusaika venähti – Näin kommentoi toimitusjohtaja
https://www.kauppalehti.fi/uutiset/a/5460f06d-27b5-4c8e-bb7f-8fc03f5294f5

Unohda Donut Lab – Nyt tulevat Suomeen sopivat suola-akut
https://www.kauppalehti.fi/uutiset/a/16bffade-4c55-41af-a844-46cef04c16d5

Suomalainen startup väittää keksineensä superakun – professori tyrmistyi lupauksista: ”Rikkoisi fysiikan periaatteita”
https://yle.fi/a/74-20204751

Donut Labin ihmeakun lanseeraukseen liittyvän Verge Motorcyclesin tilintarkastus paljasti kaaoksen
https://yle.fi/a/74-20205916

Donut Labin toinen perustaja vakuuttaa CES-haastattelussa
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/18415-donut-labin-toinen-perustaja-vakuuttaa-ces-haastattelussa

Professori: Suomalaisen ihmeakun teknologia voisi horjuttaa Kiinan ylivoimaa, jos väitteet siitä pitävät paikkansa
https://yle.fi/a/74-20206158

Missä se Donut Labin akkutehdas oikein piileskelee? – ”Emme kommentoi”
https://tekniikanmaailma.fi/missa-se-donut-labin-akkutehdas-oikein-piileskelee-emme-kommentoi/

Donut Labin akkusensaatio – totta vai tarua?
https://tekniikanmaailma.fi/donut-labin-akkusensaatio-totta-vai-tarua/

GWM’s Svolt CEO calls Donut Lab’s ‘production-ready’ solid-state battery a fraud
https://carnewschina.com/2026/01/20/gwm-spin-off-svolt-ceo-claimed-donut-labs-production-ready-all-solid-state-battery-is-a-fraud-report-says/

Teknologia 2025 event highlights included increased visitor and exhibitor numbers, with a strong focus on smart and sustainable industry, safety, AI, and the hydrogen economy.

Cyber Security Nordic brought together the leading industry players in the cyber security. The event was tailored for IT and ICT executives, cybersecurity experts, as well as private and public sector executives, decision-makers, and government officials responsible for cybersecurity.

Article links (in Finnish):
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2025/11/04/helsingin-teknologiamessut-alkaa-nailla-ohjeilla-selviat/
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2025/11/07/tekoaly-tuli-teknologiamessuille/
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2025/11/06/kyberturva-houkutti-kasvavasti-tietoturva-ammattilaisia/
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2025/11/06/teknologia25-palautumista-useilla-hyvinvointitekniikoilla/
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2025/11/03/uusia-reunalaskenta-ja-tekoalyratkaisuja/

Over the past year, these robots have become a familiar sight, delivering over 150 000 orders. In total the robots have made over 350,000 deliveries to customers and traveled a million kilometers in Finland. In Finland, Starship’s transport robots started operating in Otaniemi, Espoo, in April 2022. Finland has introduced rules for the use of small transport robots in public transport.

Although it only snows in the capital region from time to time, the robots have survived quite well during the test periods on the streets, even on icy surfaces and over large puddles. The robots use GPS tools and artificial intelligence to plan routes and learn the operating environment.

The robots are from Estonian-based ten years old company Starship Technologies. Starship Technologies develops battery-powered robots in Finland as well as Estonia. The headquarters are in the United States. Starship’s food robots have already traveled 15 million kilometers and made more than seven million autonomous deliveries around the world.

Starship’s robots have 12 cameras, ultrasonic sensors and radar, and use computer vision to detect obstacles. Robots are almost completely autonomous. The robot uses the latest computer vision and GPS positioning to navigate. Although the robots travel autonomously 99 percent of the time, and a human can take control of them at any time. The robots have also a voice feature that allows it to communicate with those nearby.

A large part of our product development for robot technology and transport services has been done in Finland. The appearance of the robots has also been designed by the Finnish company Aivan. Finns designed a robot that is treated like an animal. Designer Antti Mäkelä says that the robots have been designed to be humane, sweet and approachable in order to protect them from vandalism.
“According to Mäkelä, it has been essential in the design of the robot that the 12 cameras located in the front of it have been hidden. In terms of the experience of friendliness and innocence, it is important that people do not feel that they are being snooped on.” – The essential thing is probably that when people are eavesdropped on, they don’t know it and therefore don’t feel that way.

Videos:

Starship Robots in the Finnish Winter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKg3WFlKz4U

How Alepa Food Delivery Robots are replacing human workers in Espoo, Finland.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKI09vTf6d4

How a Robot Delivers Grocery in Finland! Amazing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS8fx4JRCF4

A Day in the Life of a Starship Robot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z417CncwQsg

Inside Starship Delivery Robots
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GpaAF3_lKA

Sources:
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2025/02/13/starshipin-robotit-vievat-jo-woltin-ruuatkin/
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2024/12/18/konenako-helpottaa-kuljetusrobottien-toimintaa/
https://www.starship.xyz/
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/?s=Starship
https://yle.fi/a/74-20138076
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Technologies
https://www.helsinkitimes.fi/finland/finland-news/domestic/25222-finnish-grocery-chain-expands-robotic-delivery-to-over-100-stores-by-year-end.html

Bonus video how to make your own:
Building a Delivery Robot (controlled by Live Chat) using Raspberry Pi 4 | Droiid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdV8n915Vwk

Finnish authorities board a ship in the Baltic Sea that the West suspects is linked to Russia, a day after an underwater Finland-Estonia electricity cable was cut and several telecom fiber optic cables were damaged.

Lloyd’s List on-line magazine claims that Russia-linked cable-cutting tanker seized by Finland ‘was loaded with spying equipment’

The incident has intensified fears in Europe over a Russian hybrid war targeting critical infrastructure in the Baltic and beyond. Estonia navy to protect undersea power link after main cable damaged.

Sources:
https://www.lloydslist.com/LL1151955/Russia-linked-cable-cutting-tanker-seized-by-Finland-was-loaded-with-spying-equipment
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/26/world/europe/finland-estonia-cables-russia.html
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/25/finland-estonia-power-cable-hit-in-latest-baltic-sea-incident
https://yle.fi/a/74-20133531
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1elq7lx9qdo
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/27/did-a-russian-shadow-ship-cut-the-finland-estonia-undersea-baltic-cable

Commissioned from composer Lauri Porra, the soundscape consists of 15 compositions inspired by the country, its people and their characteristics.

https://www.helsinkitimes.fi/finland/finland-news/domestic/25860-finland-becomes-world-s-first-country-to-launch-national-soundscape.html

“This understated, minimalist music is meant to create a certain atmosphere,”

https://finland.fi/soundscape/

Recycling plastic is complex. There are many different types of plastic made from many different types of resins and processed differently during manufacturing of packages. Common plastics such as PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate), HDPE (High-Density Polyethylene), PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride), LDPE (Low-Density Polyethylene), PP (Polypropylene), and others need to be sorted into distinct categories for the recycling to work. Some plastic types can be recycled better than other. For those easy to recycle plastic types plastic is typically first cleaned to remove contaminants, shredded or granulated into small pieces, melted, formed into pellets or granules. Those pellets of granules can be used to make new plastic products.

There are various challenges is plastic recycling, and in many locations it does not work too well. But there are is one recycling that works well in some countries: plastic bottle recycling. The first polyethylene terephthalate (PET) disposable soda bottle was introduced back in 1975. Creating a lightweight disposable bottle was more convenient for businesses as they do not break as easily as glass bottles and are lighter to transport, saving energy. A wide range of drinks, food products and other consumer goods are bottled in PET. The majority of bottles contain water or soft drinks, both still and carbonated.

The plastic packaging and beverage industry was encouraging recycling initiative, but in many places they are not widely recycled. All types of PET packaging, including bottles are usually marked with the recycle symbol 1.

There have been claims that plastic bottles cannot be recycled into new plastic bottles. Although this might have been largely true in the past, this is changed. Nowadays plastic bottles can be recycled, and they are recycled successfully in some countries. Although plastic bottle recycling certainly can reduce waste, in many countries lots of plastic is going to landfills. Just because a plastic bottle has recycling arrows on the bottom doesn’t actually mean it is recyclable in a given area.

Some countries have legislated a deposit for packaging including PET bottles. In the EU, deposit schemes average an 86% recovery rate. In Finland there is a DEPOSIT-BASED SYSTEM for plastic bottles, glass bottles and cans. There is return rate of more than 90%. In Finland 460 million plastic bottles are returned every year. In Finland plastic bottles are converted to PET plastic raw material (small plastic balls). This material is used to make new plastic bottles, food packages and other plastic products. Here is an example of Coca Cola bottle that is made 100% from recycled PET.

Finland’s system for returning beverage containers started in the 1950s, and today almost every bottle and can is recycled. The development of a bottle return system began in Finland with the arrival of Coca-Cola bottles at the 1952 Olympic Games. Today, 65 years later, Finland has the world’s best bottle deposit and return system – thanks to the model administered by Palpa. The system is based on a deposit: a fee that is returned to the consumer when they return a bottle or other drinks packaging.

Convenience is the cornerstone of the system’s success in Finland. Finnish residents returned more than two billion bottles and cans in 2020, 93 percent of the total amount purchased in the country. The factors that make this possible include automated bottle-return machines developed decades ago and the expansion of the system to include plastic bottles in the 2000s. Every time a person buys a beverage in a bottle or can, they pay a deposit of 15 to 40 cents. The system covers alcoholic beverages, soft drinks and bottled water, in aluminium cans, glass bottles and bottles made from PET plastic. People return most of the bottles they have. On average, every Finn returns 373 items in a year: 251 aluminum cans, 98 plastic bottles and 24 glass bottles. Any bottles that someone happens to leave behind on the street or in a park are snapped up by someone who returns them for the deposit money. Palpa’s turnover amounts to about 80 million euros, generated from material sales, recycling fees and charges for nonreturnable packaging.

In other Nordic Countries, beverage packages are recycled with the help of a national and general deposit-based system, as in Finland. Return rates are also high. Now a new EU Directive threatens Finland’s bottle return system that works very well. A new EU directive aimed at tackling plastic waste may lead to major changes to Finland’s bottle return system, according to Palpa, the company responsible for the collection, recycling and reuse of beverage packages. The directive requires that caps are connected to bottles at all stages of the product life cycle.

In USA there was some recycling activities also. It was time when CarbonLITE Industries recycled more than 2 billion PET bottles into food-grade post-consumer PET was one of the largest producers of food-grade recycled PET in the world. Then it went to bankruptcy in spring 2021.

Links:

https://hackaday.com/2022/01/15/recycling-soda-bottles-into-filament-to-print-smaller-soda-bottles/

https://www.is.fi/taloussanomat/art-2000009098655.html

https://www.muovikuuluukiertoon.fi/kierratysvinkit/

https://www.hsy.fi/jatteet-ja-kierratys/jateopas/jatteet/muovipakkaus/

https://finland.fi/life-society/circular-economy-success-finlands-recycling-programme-keeps-bottles-and-cans-off-the-streets/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PET_bottle_recycling

https://finland.fi/life-society/circular-economy-success-finlands-recycling-programme-keeps-bottles-and-cans-off-the-streets/

https://www.palpa.fi/beverage-container-recycling/deposit-refund-system/

https://yle.fi/aihe/artikkeli/2019/05/02/kirkas-muovipullo-voi-kiertaa-ikuisesti-varilliset-pullot-eivat-kierra-samalla

https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/eu_directive_threatens_finlands_bottle_return_system/11062302

https://finland.fi/life-society/finnish-families-get-to-grips-with-trash/

https://www.palpa.fi/beverage-container-recycling/deposit-refund-system/

https://www.infofinland.fi/en/living-in-finland/housing/waste-management-and-recycling

https://www.lt.fi/en/media/bulletins/finland-cutting-edge-of-modern-plastic-recycling

https://earth911.com/business-policy/recycling-plastic-bottles-myths/

https://yle.fi/aihe/artikkeli/2019/05/02/kirkas-muovipullo-voi-kiertaa-ikuisesti-varilliset-pullot-eivat-kierra-samalla

https://www.hartwall.fi/vastuullisuus/nain-pullojen-muovi-kiertaa/

https://uusiomuovi.fi/pakkaus-kiertaa/uusiomuovista-on-moneksi/pramia-plastic/

https://www.tekniikkatalous.fi/uutiset/muovipullo-kiertaa-nyt-materiaalina/e35ec694-57ea-3921-847e-04eb7009cefa

https://www.talouselama.fi/uutiset/kertapullo-kiertaa-raaka-aineeksi/10d28298-e466-3478-acc8-c8685c83aea5

https://www.infofinland.fi/en/housing/waste-and-recycling

https://www.sitra.fi/en/cases/deposit-based-recycling-system-drinks-packaging/

The use of public telephones was common at the time and phone cards were seen as the cutting edge of development. Those were first launched on a large scale in 1986 in Germany by Deutsche Bundespost after three years of testing, and in France by France Télécom. Many other countries followed suit, including Ireland in 1990 and the UK circa 1994–1995. Tele (nowadays known with name Sonera) was the first to use phone card machines in Finland. Tele and several local telephone companies switched coin-operated telephones in telephone booths to card-operated telephone models in the early 1990s.

The cards had a certain amount of balance loaded at the time of purchase using chip technology. The first phase technology was technically quite simple and not very secure. But by the mid-to-late 1990s, highly secure technology aided the spread of chip phonecards worldwide.

The whole phone card technology was somewhat short-lived (especially in Finland) because in the late in the 1990′s they became unnecessary as cell phones became more common (thank’s to Nokia), which led to situation that the the previously common telephone booths disappeared from the street scene. Here are pictures of one 30 years old not so smart telephone booth calling cards used in Finland.

This type of telephone cards are the simplest type of “smart card”. The cards had a certain amount of balance loaded at the time of purchase, and this amount was stored to the card. Those telephone cards (as used in Finland and France) were technically simple memory card with smart card connector. This kind of memory cards only have some amount of memory inside the card and this memory can be normally read and written. There is normally nothing really intelligent inside those cards. There is a memory chip that has a small amount of card information it followed by memory are that contains the information of balance in the card.

A stored-value phone card stores the available balance in digital memory physically embedded in the card. This balance can be read by a public payphone when the card is inserted into the card reader. The stored-value system used in Finland write data to an embedded chip to reflect the new balance after a call. Used primarily for payphones, stored-value systems avoid the time lag and expense of communication with a central database, which would have been technically complex before the 1990s. In Finland the card had a memory area, where there was one memory bit for each token (30 mk card had 30 tokens) value in card. The tokens could be freely read, and one by one written to “used” state after use (but could not be turned back to not used state).

The technology worked, but it was not the most secure as a href=”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_card”>the initial microchips were easy to hack. Some users found out that some cards could be hacked by scratching off the programming-voltage contact on the card, which rendered the phone unable to reduce the card’s value after a call. Also some people have built their own cards that looked like phone card to the phone, but they did not decrease the stored amount during use or were automatically reset back to card balance full state when removed from card. This kind of hack cards could be built at the time using a small thin circuit board and a small micro-controller soldered to it running a small program that emulates phone card operation.

I was interested in how those cards worked in the early 1990′s. I looked the technical information related to them and built my own hardware+software that allowed my PC to communicate with them.

Hacker magazine PHRACK issue 48 (September 1, 1996) published a two part article on electronic telephone cards technology. That article also mentions some of my work on the field (I improved some of the card communications software published in the article). The software enables you to dumb the memory of electronics phonecards to see the information in them. The software also allowed to write to cards (write out some bits to lower the balance).

You can find the article parts here:
Electronic Telephone Cards: How to make your own! (part 1)
Electronic Telephone Cards: How to make your own! (part 2)

Here are some picks from those articles:

{*****************************************************************************}
{ T E L E C A R D . PAS }
{*****************************************************************************}
{ This program enable you to dumb the memory of electronics phonecards }
{ from all over the world, so that you will be able to see which country }
{ the card is from how many units are left and so on …. }
{*****************************************************************************}
{ }
{ Written by Stephane BAUSSON (1993) }
{ }
{ Email: sbausson@ensem.u-nancy.fr }
{ }
{ Snail Mail Address: 4, Rue de Grand }
{ F-88630 CHERMISEY }
{ France }
{ }
{*****************************************************************************}
{* Thanks to: Tomi Engdahl (Tomi.Engdahl@hut.fi) *}
{*****************************************************************************}

After the information was more widely on-line, more and more people figured out how to hack those phone card to get free calls. People hacked those card and sold fake cards in Finland to the point that phone companies had to start to try to catch the users of fake phone cards and magazines started to write about the problem.

Here is one article from 1996 on the phone card hacking problems in Finland:
Puhelinkorttien jäljitelmillä huijattu ilmaisia puheluita Tele joutui korjaamaan tuhansien yleisöpuhelimien suojausta
” Poliisi tutkii Suomessa ensi kertaa paljastuneita puhelinhuijauksia, joissa on puhelinkorttien jäljitelmien avulla huijattu ilmaista soittoaikaa. Simulaatiokorteiksi kutsuttujen jäljitelmien avulla huijari on voinut soittaa ilmaiseksi kuinka kauan tahansa.”

Just few years later the system started to shut down because in addition to free calls problems the increasing owning of of mobile phones started to make phone booths not as profitable anymore as it once was.

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_card
https://www.epanorama.net/links/smartcards.html#memorycard
https://www.turku.fi/blogit/kukkuu-kokoelmista/kokoelmanosto-kuvat-kortilla-yleisopuhelimien-lahihistoriaa
Electronic Telephone Cards: How to make your own! (part 1)
Electronic Telephone Cards: How to make your own! (part 2)
https://groups.google.com/g/sfnet.harrastus.elektroniikka/c/k2yqfJVb_aA/m/fqmm4nNa4MwJ
https://www.hs.fi/kotimaa/art-2000003536142.html
https://www.antikvariaatti.net/kerailyesineet/puhelinkortit