The management of wood and forests has always been a sensitive subject in Limousin. So, when the arrival, in Guéret (Creuse), of a pellet factory was announced, there was naturally an outcry. With, in the viewfinder, the company Biosyl created in 2010, which transforms sawmill related products and by-products of forestry exploitation into energy with low CO2 emissions: wood pellets. “Biosyl participates in the recovery of waste and scrap from the forestry ecosystem,” it indicates in a press release. For its opponents, like the mayor of Guéret Marie-Françoise Fournier, the project nevertheless announces “an ecological disaster».
The company already has two factories: one in Nièvre, the other in Haute-Loire, for 80 employees and a total production of 200,000 tonnes of pellets. “Our industrial tool allows us to transform a significant portion of wood by-products and residues into energy», According to Antoine de Cockborne, founding president of Biosyl.
The factory project in Guéret – launched in 2022 with work planned for the end of 2024 and a start in 2026 – must be carried out on 15 hectares of land located in the industrial zone of the city for a total investment of around 25 million euros. “This strategic decision is driven by the availability of significant, but underutilized, forest resources in the region to provide 70000 French homes with economical, low-carbon energyexplains Biosyl. The supply radius extends over 130 km around Guéret and includes 581000 hectares of forests, encompassing seven departments.» (Creuse, Haute-Vienne, Indre, Corrèze, Cher, Allier, Puy-de-Dôme).
The creation of 40 direct jobs and around a hundred indirect jobs is announced, with a “significant economic impact for Guéret”, in particular an annual payroll estimated at 2 million euros.
“The project will not destroy the region’s forest at all”
In its approach, Biosyl is supported by various players in the sector, including the forestry cooperative Unisylva. Its general director, Benoît Rachez, sees this project as a solution to guarantee the future of the profession: “This provides an outlet for the types of wood for which we need it, the harvest of which is necessary to ensure the maintenance and improvement of the forest. And in particular from the deciduous forest of the region, because currently we only harvest about half of what is needed to ensure good management.»
However, he does not ignore the speeches of the opponents whom he tries to reassure, even if their weight surprises him somewhat: “The project will not destroy the forest in the region at all, if only because of the need for quantity. The entire supply of the factory represents only 3.6% of the forestry potential in the sectorfigure Benoît Rachez. In hardwood, we are at 50%, so if we go from 50 to 53.6% it is not this project which will upset the balance. But we did not expect such opposition, especially since this is the third project for a Biosyl pellet plant and there were no such problems with the first two.»
Several thousand opponents
Indeed, if the project was notably validated by the Agglo du Grand Guéret, the city municipality is fiercely opposed to it. “Our nature is our only wealthsays Marie-Françoise Fournier, mayor of the town. Forty jobs created by Biosyl, but how many lost in our small local businesses ? And what are we going to replace this nature with? ? Furthermore, I regret that there was no consultation upstream. It is an ecological catastrophe that awaits us.»
The councilor took part in a demonstration bringing together around 2,500 people, including several groups, at the beginning of October. Like the Canopée association, represented by Bruno Doucet, French forest campaign manager: “In Creuse, there is already a volume of standing wood which is decreasing. Each year, the Creuse standing forest grows by one million cubic meters. Today, the industry already takes 1.2 million cubic meters. So we are already in deficit. We must reverse the trend. But instead, we add factories like Biosyl which will collect 160,000 cubic meters of hardwood per year. Because what you need to know is that 80% of these will be hardwoods which will be taken from 130 km around. Furthermore, there already exist Biosyl factories, notably one in Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire. And we see how she stocks up, with clear cuts.» The State, through the Creuse prefecture, gave the green light for the establishment of the factory.
Source: www.usinenouvelle.com
