“The problem is also in perspective, because these increases will end up on the shoulders of citizens, whose salaries cannot grow like the prices of raw materials and energy. It means less consumption: that is, and I shudder to say it, recession ». Silvano Carletto is the president of the Pirinoli di Roccavione paper mill, 43 million euros in turnover in 2021, over three hundred customers worldwide from Europe to North Africa. Which is now confronted day and night with out of control corporate costs. That of the Roccavione paper mill is an emblematic story because for almost two years it has been fighting against crazy increases: in 2021 paper, now methane. The president says: «Today paying the bills is a huge problem, chasing the rises. We have always done it because we are lucky enough to operate in a sector that has gone well even with Covid because it is based on the circular economy, reusing recycled paper and cardboard ».
Pirinoli manufactures cardboard for packaging and tubes and 40 per cent of production goes outside Italy: in 2021 the paper market doubled the prices of what would otherwise be pulped and today costs 180 euros per ton, while from the end of 2021 the cost of gas has skyrocketed. Thus the company’s bill went from an average of 3-400 thousand euros per month to over 2.4 million: the bill for the month of March. Pirinoli has held up because it has invested in the past: in January 2019 a 7 million euro cogeneration plant that burns methane and internally produces all the electricity and thermal energy that the plant needs.
Carletto continues: «Methane cost 20 cents per cubic meter, now it is 1.5 euros, but we have reached daily peaks of 3 euros, because there is strong speculation behind it. Eni supplies us with gas, we talk to its employees every day and they repeat: “Impossible to make predictions”. Thus the price increases partly ended up on the customers’ shoulders ». When we buy an Easter dove at the supermarket, the packaging also costs more. «Every day I check the telematic methane gas market, the Dutch stock exchange: today the gas in the company reaches 110 cents per cubic meter, because in addition to the price on the world market we also pay excise duties and transport. And every month Pirinoli consumes about 1.6 million cubic meters of methane. At the end of the year, we estimated an increase in bills of 20 million. Where did they come from? Give it increases to our customers. But in this way the situation is not sustainable in the long term ».
In 150 years of history, the paper mill has seen many, even recently, such as the bankruptcy of ten years ago that became national news or object of study in universities, when 70 employees had “bought back” the company because they knew the its value. “We are reborn with seriousness and quality: we recycle paper, we sell recyclable cardboard, we recycled ourselves as workers” repeated Carletto. Today he says: «Some competitors have closed, others are in difficulty. Having thought about sustainability has allowed us to remain competitive in difficulties. The water in the Gypsum for processing is 95% recovered, the cogeneration plant has low emissions and high efficiency, over 80% of the fibers we process come from recycling ».
With one hope: that circular economy and attention to the environment, as well as investments and cooperatives, will also allow us to overcome this crisis.