"If this factory didn't exist, we would have fewer problems": in the Ardennes, Métal Blanc is still weighing down Bourg-Fidèle

Eric Andry drops a heavy file onto the table. About fifteen centimeters thick, it contains the entire history of the Métal Blanc site, located in the heart of the village of Bourg-Fidèle, in the Ardennes, since 1968. The site that has caused the most nightmares for this mayor, who is not yet out of the woods yet. Twenty years after its first conviction in 2005 by the Charleville-Mézières court, the company of the same name—self-described as "eco-citizen" and claiming its membership in the circular economy through several certifications—is still targeted by prefectural decrees, pointing to recurring excesses of authorized zinc and lead discharges. But the authorities have never ordered its closure.

From used batteries and all other lead waste, the plant produces new batteries, as well as cables and rolled lead. With an annual turnover of 50 million euros and a workforce of 50, it is the only "high threshold" Seveso site in the Ardennes – c