2023-09-06 18:21:23
This is the group’s largest international acquisition. Paprec, the French number one in recycling, announced on Wednesday, September 6, the takeover of the Spanish CLD, which notably provides most of the collection of household waste in Barcelona and has five sorting centers, with 1,600 employees. .
Spain thus becomes the first market outside France for the group created in 1994 by Jean-Luc Petithuguenin, which is still in the hands of the family, and is one of the finest French entrepreneurial successes. Paprec recorded 2.5 billion euros in turnover in 2022 (+ 20%) and expects to reach five billion by 2030.
Spain wants to catch up on recycling
Why Spain? ” The country is still lagging behind in terms of recycling and offers good development prospectsexplains Mathieu Petihuguenin, CEO of Paprec Spain.. Almost half of the waste is buried, compared to 20% in France, but a law on the circular economy passed last year encourages the treatment of plastic waste with the introduction of a new tax. »
The subsidiary was created in March 2022 and is already in its fourth acquisition, with a turnover of 200 million euros. “Spain is also ahead of us in some areas, which will help us to progress”underlines the son of Jean-Luc Petithuguenin, the creator of the group.
Of the 350 CLD collection trucks, 70% are already electric and 16% run on natural gas, making it, according to him, “ one of the largest green fleets in the sector in Europe “. Spain is also well placed in the recovery of organic waste, with large methanization plants managed by municipalities.
Focus on energy recovery from waste
Paprec is now seeking to diversify in order to be less dependent solely on the recycling activity which, even if it is progressing due in particular to more incentive legislation, remains dependent on the economic situation and the cost of virgin raw materials. ” Since the end of last year, we have seen a drop in volumes, around 6% for household waste and 15% for industrial waste, which is largely linked to the drop in consumption. », note Mathieu Petithuguenin.
The group is thus developing at full speed in the energy recovery of waste that is burned to produce heat, gas and electricity. A business in which it is already the number three in France, with 27 sites. He will thus build a huge methanisation plant in the port of Gennevilliers (Hauts-de-Seine), capable of processing 50,000 tonnes of food waste per year. It also has recovery units in the United Kingdom, Poland, Azerbaijan and the Emirates.
In total, the group is present in a dozen countries, but intends to develop all of its businesses in only a handful of them, such as Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Spain. For now, Paprec still does 90% of its business in France. But the share of the international should quickly rise to 20%, assures Mathieu Petithuguenin.
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