What's behind the closure of a cardboard plant in Castellbisbal?

BarcelonaThis Monday, the RDM workers' committee in Castellbisbal is once again convening a meeting they would have preferred to avoid. It will be the second meeting with the management of the Italian cardboard packaging company to discuss the dismissal of the 237 workers at the plant, affected by the redundancy plan (ERE) that has been hanging over their bosses since January. The closure of this factory has met with outright rejection from the unions, the town council, and also that of Sant Andreu de la Barca—where about seventy of the employees are from—who are suspicious of the owners' intentions to cash in on the land.

In 2018, the Reno di Medici (RDM) group purchased 100% of the packaging board manufacturer Barcelona Cartonboard for approximately €47 million through the Quantum Capital Partners fund. These same facilities had previously been owned by the Scandinavian company Stora Enso and Tampella Española, which began operations in the 1960s. However, a few months ago, the Italian corporation informed its employees of its decision to close the Castellbisbal plant "as a result of increasingly challenging market conditions." The company attributed this to "changing consumption patterns, inflationary pressures in Europe, and a complex geopolitical environment aggravated by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine." In its justifications, RDM also mentioned "a significant drop in demand for cardboard in Europe between 2021 and 2023," which led to stockpiles and very low capacity utilization rates at the factories.

But these explanations are of no use to the works council. "We believe this is a speculative business," says its president and representative of the CCOO (Working Council of Workers), Pedro Aguilera. The main element of suspicion is that RDM's largest shareholder is, precisely, the Apollo fund, a New York-based firm that manages nearly $785 billion in assets. The union leader points out that the land is very large—about 125,000 square meters—and that the factory has a cogeneration plant of up to 46 megawatts, which could attract potential buyers looking to set up a logistics warehouse or a data center. There are also water wells, very useful for the latter type of business. His estimate is that, at a minimum, they could be sold for around €65 million. In a context where The European Union is preparing a siege on plastic And from January 1, 2030, it will ban, for example, all packaging for fresh fruit and vegetables; the unions don't understand why RDM claims that the cardboard business is declining.

"In this fight, from the beginning we have had the fear that it is a big hit "The sale of the warehouses," warns Rafael de Arriba, territorial manager of USOC in the Vallès Occidental. The RDM plant was located next to the Eurohueco printing company in the same industrial estate, which also announced the closure of the factory at the beginning of the year, with a redundancy plan for 150 workers. How it progressed The NewspaperIn that case, two months before announcing this decision, the company had pre-agreed to sell the land for €10 million to the real estate company Renta Corporación. Regarding these accusations, RDM responds that it "regrets the spread of unfounded rumors and misleading information by certain agents, which could discourage potential buyers from participating in the reindustrialization process, thus harming possible solutions for those affected."

The clock started ticking with the registration of the ERE (Layoff Plan), and therefore, a reindustrialization committee has already been activated in parallel to try to find an industrial replacement to fill the Italian group's position. The first meeting was on May 8, and they will meet again in the first half of June. "The Department of Business and Employment is working, through contacts with companies and the Action offices, to find industrial projects that could be located on the Castellbisbal RDM land," commented the department of Minister Miquel Sàmper, who is leading this initiative. Union and municipal sources indicate that at least three companies are already interested in taking over the cardboard factory, but no specific offers have yet been received.

The environmental impact

"We are concerned because losing an industry of this nature means, in terms of the budget, a significant loss of revenue, which also ends up impacting the citizens. As a governing team, we are very clear about the type of industry we want, one that is compatible with our values of sustainability, mobility, and quality of employment," says the mayor of Castellbisbal, Dolors Conde. For both her council and that of Sant Andreu de la Barca, it is a priority to fill this gap with a new industrial project. "We are looking at options that will save these 237 jobs. We are committed to manufacturing companies that add value to the supply chain, with well-paid jobs and good conditions," reaffirms the mayor of San Andrés de la Barca, Marc Giribet, who shares the suspicions about the potential real estate transaction.

In addition to the loss of jobs and economic fabric, the local councils are also facing another environmental consequence. Until now, they also used the plant to ship the cardboard waste generated by their municipalities. "Catalonia is losing sovereignty in this matter. There's another plant in El Prat de Llobregat, but if it has to manage everything that was made in Castellbisbal, it will collapse," Giribet points out. Conde confirms that last year RDM already began telling them to take the cardboard to another destination and now they will have to find alternative solutions with the lowest possible environmental impact. "Catalonia is a leader in what RDM manufactured, and we must make an effort as a country to not lose what we are leaders in," he concludes.