Cascades Division Lays Off Employees

Désencrage CMD, a division of Cascades Inc., announced layoffs and production cuts at its Trois-Rivieres, Que., operations. The company cited a decline in deinked pulp demand as the reason for the cut.

According to Mario Plourde, president, of the Specialty Products Group of Cascades, “Despite the efforts made to recuperate, reuse and recycle through the intervention of various waste paper collection programs, few efforts are made to expand the use of paper made from recycled fibers even though it has an extremely positive impact on the environment. There is also a lack of interest on the part of the consumer. Contrary to the mid -1980's, consumers are less preoccupied with the percentage of recycled fibers in magazines and other products that we use. Often the information on the recycled content is nowhere to be found!”

Désencrage CMD has 70 employees and for the time being, the majority are on-call until business improves. Production has slowed down for over a year. Some employees work one week in four. Although this situation persists, due to the volatility of the orders Cascades will continue operations while waiting for stability in the market.

Désencrage CMD manufactures and markets deinked pulp. It has an annual production capacity of 120 000 metric tons. The pulp produced is sold to newsprint and packaging producers in Quebec, Ontario and the United States.