New formaldehyde plant triggers protests in Romania

Around 1,500 people staged a protest on Sunday, January 25, in Sebes, Romania, against the construction of a new formaldehyde plant in the city. The plant is a project of Austrian woodworking company Kronospan. This is the third such protest organized in Sebes against the plant, similar actions being organized in the city in previous weeks. The protestors carried Romanian flags and banners with messages such as “Stop the pollution! Formaldehyde = cancer,” or "Kronospan don’t forget, Sebes doesn’t want you,” reports local Mediafax. Most of the protestors were Sebes residents, but there were also people from other cities such as Cluj-Napoca, Targu Mures, and Reghin. The protests were organized by Sebes Civic Initiative Group, a group founded by several locals with the support of environmental organizations. Its main objective is to plead against the construction of a new formaldehyde factory in Sebes, which will have a capacity of 60,000 tons per year. In a press release, Kronospan expressed its availability for dialog and once again invited representatives of the civil society, local authorities and NGOs at the company’s headquarters for talks, reports Mediafax. The company plans to build a formaldehyde plant in Sebes, with an investment of EUR 18 million. The company purchased the equipment second hand from France. Kronospan is a leading manufacturer of wood-based boards in Romania and owns two production units in Sebes and Brasov, as well as a logistics center in Constanta. The company started investments in Romania in 2004 when it bought the plant in Sebes from Italian group MD Fratti. Besides the wood processing platform, Kronospan also owns a formaldehyde factory in Sebes, which produces 30,000 tons per year. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com