Celulosa Arauco y Constitución (also called CELCO or ARAUCO) is a Chilean
wood pulp
Pulp is a lignocellulosic fibrous material prepared by chemically or mechanically separating cellulose fibers from wood, fiber crops, waste paper, or rags. Mixed with water and other chemical or plant-based additives, pulp is the major raw mate ...
,
engineered wood
Engineered wood, also called mass timber, composite wood, man-made wood, or manufactured board, includes a range of derivative wood products which are manufactured by binding or fixing the strands, particles, fibres, or veneers or boards of woo ...
and
forestry
Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. Th ...
company controlled by
Anacleto Angelini's economic group; Empresas
Copec. In 2006 CELCO/ARAUCO had five
pulp mill
A pulp mill is a manufacturing facility that converts wood chips or other plant fiber sources into a thick fiber board which can be shipped to a paper mill for further processing. Pulp can be manufactured using mechanical, semi-chemical, or ful ...
s in Chile and one in Argentina. Apart from pulp mills, CELCO/ARAUCO has 4 engineered wood manufacturing plants in Chile, 2 in Argentina and 2 in Brazil.
The company was founded in September 1979 as result of the fusion of Celulosa Arauco S.A. (1967) and Celulosa Constitución S.A. (1969). Both companies had been privatized during the
Pinochet Era from
CORFO
The Production Development Corporation (CORFO, from es, Corporación de Fomento de la Producción de Chile) is a Chilean governmental organization that was founded in 1939 by President Pedro Aguirre Cerda to promote economic growth in Chile.
...
in 1977 and 1979 respectively.
Investments
In May 2009 Arauco and the Finnish company
Stora Enso announced a €253 million deal that would make their joint venture the largest landowner in Uruguay.
In September 2009 Arauco purchased the Brazilian panel company Tafisa Brasil in a deal worth US$227m.
Pollution controversies
Valdivia
Beginning in 2004, and just months after the opening of CELCO's Valdivia plant, thousands of
black-necked swans in the internationally protected Ramsar site and national reserve
Carlos Anwandter in Chile died or migrated. The Valdivia pulp mill, located upriver, was widely blamed. The mill is located near the city of
Mariquina and discharges directly into the
Cruces River which feeds the wetlands. The company had been dumping more
dioxins
Dioxin may refer to:
* 1,2-Dioxin or 1,4-Dioxin, two unsaturated heterocyclic 6-membered rings where two carbon atoms have been replaced by oxygen atoms, giving the molecular formula C4H4O2
*Dibenzo-1,4-dioxin, the parent compound also known as ...
and
heavy metals
upright=1.2, Crystals of osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead">lead.html" ;"title="osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead">osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead
Heavy metals are generally defined as ...
than had been approved by the regulating agencies into the river from a waste tube that had been approved by the authorities. It had also been producing far above levels approved in its Environmental Impact Assessment, and was cited for multiple violations of environmental and health laws. The scandal prompted Celco's chief executive to resign in June 2005 and the company to pledge to adopt cleaner technologies. The plant was temporarily closed by authorities but then allowed to reopen two months later at limited production capacity. Several legal actions were finally settled in the company's favor at the Chilean Supreme Court. However, it later was revealed that this decision was based on a report that CELCO had itself produced and falsely claimed was authored by the University of Concepcion. This caused Chile's president Ricardo Lagos to declare that the company had gone too far and was harming the country's image.
A report contracted by the Chilean government to the regional university (Universidad Austral de Chile) found that the company's pollution was responsible for rapid ecological change in the wetlands leading to the decline of populations of swans and other water birds. This finding was reviewed and validated by other independent entities including an international commission organized by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). However, scientists at the Pontifical Catholic University funded by CELCO have disputed the causality between the plant's pollution and the swan population decline. In July 2007 CELCO agreed to pay
CLP$614 million to
Valdivian tourism companies to avoid legal actions for supposed losses of the tourism sector of Valdivia due to contamination of Carlos Anwandter Nature Sanctuary. In a document signed by the tourism companies CELCO was exempted from all responsibility involving the contamination of Cruces River. CELCO also promised to pay CLP$2 million monthly for three years to promote tourism. Chile's equivalent of an Attorney General's office was suing the company to compensate for the environmental harm done. By 2012 the black-necked swan population had still not recovered beyond a few hundred individuals, down from its estimated population of 7,000 individuals before the crisis.
Mataquito
In December 1999 the pulp mill Licancel (located in the coast of
Curicó,
Maule Region
The Maule Region ( es, Región del Maule, ) is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. Its capital is Talca. The region derives its name from the Maule River which, running westward from the Andes, bisects the region and spans a ...
) was accused of causing the death of hundreds of fish due to the dumping of
wastewater into
Mataquito River. In June 2007 Licancel once again caused the death of fish in the river. The sanitary authorities ordered a temporary closure of the plant for 30 days, and CELCO dismissed three executives. Two weeks later of industrial waste water escaped from a broken pipeline, of which 50,000 reached the river. CELCO said that it was an industrial accident, that they would close the plant until further notice, and that the spill would not have any impact on the environment. The Secretary of State for the Environment said that, despite having large financial and technical resources, CELCO had an extremely poor environmental record.
La Tercera - Ejecutivos reconocen ante comisión del Senado responsabilidad de Celco en contaminación, 19 June 2007
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References
External links
Celulosa Arauco y Constitución S.A
Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Celulosa Arauco Y Constitucion
Los Ríos Region
Environment of Chile
Renewable resource companies established in 1979
Pulp and paper companies of Chile
Chilean companies established in 1979