Is there still a tiny chance of saving the historic activity of Chapelle-Darblay, the only French paper mill that produced totally recycled newsprint? In Grand-Couronne (Seine-Maritime), in the port suburb of Rouen, despite the headwinds, the last employees of the nonagenarian paper mill, put on sale since September 2019 by its owner, the Finnish giant UPM, still believe in it.
Friday, July 2, during an extraordinary social and economic committee (CSE), the paper group officially announced to them its decision to sell the enormous 33 hectare factory, its last in France, to a production unit project of hydrogen, carried by the Caen company Samfi-Invest / H2V Product. According to the Ministry of the Economy, an activity of “Sorting and packaging of plastic and paper waste”, led by the Paprec group, would be backed up by it. The precise outlines of this section, where the word recycling is not used, are not known.
Structural decline
If the project is completed, it would definitely turn a page started in 1927 in this corner of Normandy. “It is the only firm industrial offer”, assure the chairman of the supervisory board of UPM France, Daniel Schwab. And to remember that the group has “Makes the effort to keep the site as it is for one year, to give itself the maximum chance of finding a buyer”.
Closed in June 2020, due, according to its owner, to a lack of competitiveness and the structural decline of newsprint, the Normandy paper mill, although still profitable, was not dismantled immediately. Its machines, dormant, and its biomass boiler remain usable. Nearly 230 employees were made redundant in 2020, but three of them, trade unionists and staff representatives, are still in place. Supported by the CGT, they have been active in recent months to find a paper-based recovery solution, however, expressing doubts about UPM’s willingness to sell to a competitor.
The Rouen paper mill could absorb up to 480,000 tonnes per year, the result of sorting 24 million inhabitants
State, Normandy region and Rouen Normandy Metropolis have worked in the same direction, in vain. A major player in the sector, the Belgian carton maker VPK, had nevertheless positioned itself, before giving up in early June and opting for the takeover of another Norman paper mill, Double A, located in Alizay, in the Eure region, and also in difficulty.
You have 45.35% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.