The plans to extend the Knauf factory in the Illange megazone seem to be materializing, as evidenced by this request for a building permit currently being examined by the Agglo Community. From April 24, the public will be asked to give their opinion on the construction of a rock wool ceiling tile manufacturing unit.
Par –
07:00 | updated at 20:24
Five years after its establishment in the megazone of Illange, property of the Department of Moselle, the company Knauf Insulation (manufacture of mineral rock wool) is therefore seriously considering expanding its activities. What was only a rumor and a vague intention last fall is now confirmed. Evidenced by this prefectural decree dated March 28 prescribing the opening of a forthcoming public inquiry into the creation of a manufacturing unit for rock wool ceiling tiles. The Moselle site, in competition with the satellite factory of Nová Bana, in Slovakia, was finally preferred by the management board to accommodate this new unit of the group. Unit which would include five buildings (raw materials distribution chain, raw materials storage, production hall, offices and finished products storage) for a floor area of around 30,000 m² and a total area of 94,700 m². As for the production of these panels for suspended ceilings, painted on site, it would have a capacity of 19,000,000 m² per year, or 10 to 15 trucks per day, according to the description of the project.
The last word to the prefect
If the building permit application is currently being examined by the Porte de France-Thionville agglomeration community, the public consultation notice has been posted since April 3 at the town hall of Illange. The complete file can, meanwhile, be consulted, always in the town hall of Illange between April 24 and May 22 or on the internet (www.moselle.gouv.fr). The public will then be able to make their comments on a register opened for this purpose or send them to the prefect by letter to the prefecture of Moselle, office of public inquiries and the environment, 9 place de la Préfecture, 57034 Metz cedex 01. The file of registration is also sent to the municipal council where the project is located, in this case Illange, as well as to the municipal councils of the municipalities of Yutz and Bertrange, municipalities included within a radius of one kilometer around the perimeter of the future unit . Comprising the application of glue and paint on rock wool slabs, this operation constitutes a project subject to an application for registration. At the end of the investigation procedure, and after possible consultation with the departmental council for the environment and health and technological risks, the prefect of Moselle will rule by decree on the request of the Knauf company. The decision will be either a prefectural registration order accompanied by prescriptions, or a prefectural order refusing registration.
Two opposing worlds
The procedure, altogether classic, is however likely to stir up, here, a whole section of the population gathered under the banner of the Collective Stop Knauf Illange. These same people who had fought, in vain, against the establishment of the factory in 2018, arguing too much pollution, are now ready to bounce back. As for the Knauf group, which has sufficient land to increase its activities, it has never made a secret of its ambitions.
