- Atrion, the second largest sorting center in New Aquitaine, overflowed before confinement with 3,000 tonnes of recyclable paper and cardboard.
- The cause ? The decision in late 2019 from Beijing to no longer import old paper and cardboard from Europe.
- But the coronavirus crisis changed the situation, and faced with the sudden increase in consumption, factories urgently needed recycled paper and cardboard.
- Prices then skyrocketed, and the 3,000 tonnes of surplus disappeared in four weeks.
Three thousand tonnes of recyclable waste sold thanks to the coronavirus crisis: near Angoulême, the sorting center of Mornac (Charente) breathes better while it was on the verge of suffocation before confinement.
Four months ago, Atrion, the second largest center of this type in New Aquitaine, looked like a landfill: bales of paper and cardboard were stored inside and even in the car parks of the site.
"Collection vehicles and trucks were finding it increasingly difficult to maneuver because of the congestion, not to mention the risk of fire and pollution," said François Filippi, director in charge of operations at Calitom, the public waste service of Charente on which Atrion depends.
The center was reduced to having to pay stationery stores
The center, like other communities, was reduced to having to pay the paper mills to collect "wholesale store" (GM) bales, poor quality cardboard and paper. A roof.
The cause ? The decision in late 2019 from Beijing to no longer import old paper and cardboard from Europe. China now supplies its recycling circuit solely thanks to its domestic economy. But the Covid-19 pandemic and the start of containment completely reversed the situation.
"In three days, we bought what we normally eat in packs of pasta in a year!" "
"On March 16, the economy stops," recalls François Filippi. “The population is starting to stock up. In France, in three days, we bought what we normally eat in packets of pasta in a year! The factories had to turn around. They urgently needed recycled paper and cardboard. While knowing that with the sanitary measures, the sorting centers would close. The paper mills have run for our goods. Prices have skyrocketed ”. The ton of GM thus goes from a negative value to 5 euros in March, 20 euros in April and 55 euros in May.
“As our storage problems had been widely publicized […], all the paper mills in France knew that there was no shortage of paper at Mornac. We were inundated with calls, ”said the Calitom official today. The 3,000 tonnes of surplus disappear in four weeks!
The Charentais sorting center "will be drowned in the papers again in three months"
This respite is however temporary and the Charentais sorting center "will be drowned again in three months," predicts François Filippi. "The problem is structural: Chinese paper mills no longer need the waste from Europe to turn". In June, with deconfinement measures, the price per tonne of GM has already started to fall again.
“European countries did not anticipate the coup. It will take years before setting up our own stationery network, ”also explains the manager.
In the meantime, the public authorities will have to decide what to do with these future surpluses. Since the Environmental Code prohibits the landfilling of recyclable waste, it is now the question of incineration that arises. And in the longer term, that of possible new outlets, such as the manufacture of toilet paper or the production of biomass.
Sorting center now faces drastic drop in oil prices
But the health crisis also had its downside for Atrion: the sorting center is now faced with the drastic fall in oil prices.
Because of the pandemic, the ton of clear PET, the material used to make bottles of mineral water, fell from 350 to 220 euros, a drop of 37%, notes François Filippi. Result: "It has become more interesting for companies like Evian or Vittel to buy virgin resin than our PET even if, by law, they are still obliged to incorporate 25% recycled material in the manufacture of the bottles".
Our recycling file
And for less noble plastics, the collapse in prices is even more spectacular: when Atrion sold a ton of high density polyethylene (HDPE) 210 euros in 2018, it must now pay 48 euros to get rid of it.
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- Poitou-Charentes
- Recycling
- Waste
- Economy
- Society