It is a fight led by several members of the Chapelle-Charpillot neighborhood association for more than two years. This is particularly the case of a resident, Jean-Marc Péchoux, who denounces dangerous traffic of heavy goods vehicles which cross the residential area to transport and recover waste sorted by Doubs Recyclage, located Chemin des Carrières in Pontarlier.
So in December 2022, he wrote to the prefect and let two months pass before joining the Regional Directorate of Environment, Planning and Housing (DREAL). “The inspector told me that Doubs Recyclage was supposed to be inspected in 2025, but that based on our discussion, they will be in the first quarter of 2023”testifies Jean-Marc Péchoux. “We were approached by a single complainant at the start who arrived with very precise, factual and objective reports. The elements put forward were sufficiently solid and well-founded for us to consider it necessary to follow up”confirms Franck Nass, head of the 25/70/90 interdepartmental unit of DREAL Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.
Seven non-conformities
The inspection takes place in May 2023, leading to a report in July. Out of 18 control points, 7 non-compliances were noted, relating to fire prevention, the release of runoff water into the open air, the slab which requires repair and the exceeding of the perimeter on which the activity is carried out. authorized. “Changes to the plans have been made. We installed a retention tarpaulin. Work was carried out on parts of the slab repairs which were damaged”lists Guillaume Secula, co-director of the E3R group, which manages Doubs Recyclage.
A deposit which overflows into a strictly protected natural area
The report also points to two overflows from plot BO 449 allocated to the company's activities. Both take place on municipal plot 450. The first covers 1500m2 on the north-eastern part of the site and the second concerns 400m2 on the southern part. Guillaume Secula explains that these excesses already existed when the former Artmann company was acquired in 2011: “We didn’t know about it. We learned about the overflow in 2023”.
Problem, these deposit stocks are on a plot classified as a natural zone of strict protection therefore “a priori not compatible with industrial activity”notes the report. It is planned to regularize the administrative situation, provoking numerous debates. It is ultimately the prefecture which decides in a letter dated September 17, 2024: “it appears that regularization by filing a file for illegal occupation is therefore ultimately impossible”.
Doubs Recyclage will not move
This response therefore restricts Doubs Recyclage to its plot BO 449. “We proposed a staggering to leave the surfaces”affirms Guillaume Secula. Sequencer confirmed by Franck Nass of DREAL. The site, operated at maximum capacity, according to the inspection report, must return to its perimeter. Is this possible after diversifying your activities? “Usually, this type of activity is carried out on very large sites. You have comparable sites in Héricourt, in Frasnois, with considerable surface areas which allow the operator to be comfortable. What we cannot say is to what extent, by returning to the truly authorized perimeter, the operator will not be led to reconsider its position a little.explains Franck Nass.
Jean-Marc Péchoux hopes that this restriction will force the company to move. The co-director ensures the opposite: “It reduces our operating volume, but it does not change the future of the structure. I don't want to give false illusions. The reduction in surface areas will no longer allow us to work in the same way but these are not constraints to the point of moving us. Land is not easy to obtain. It’s an ICPE site, so we need prefectural authorization, and it takes a long time”.
Additional administrative action in the event of non-compliance
Doubs Recyclage has until June 7, 2027 to return to its allocated plot. Last November, Jean-Marc Péchoux called on a lawyer and they sent a request instituting proceedings to the administrative court to modify the prefectural order of formal notice, dated June 7, 2024, “by reducing the time allowed to the company DOUBS RECYCLAGE, for the execution of its obligations, from 36 months to 9 months; all subject to a penalty of €250 per day of delay, from the expiration of the said period of 9 months”can we read in the request.
For its part, DREAL maintains the pressure: “we do not have the power to move a site when it begins to generate too much nuisance for its environment. The balance of power is relatively balanced because we have a set of regulatory levers. Property boundaries, noise levels, we will have to respect them. We will be uncompromising on the quality of the waterproofing of the floors. The operator for his part, as long as he decides to stay there, we cannot force him to go elsewhere”underlines Franck Nass.
At the end of the deadlines set for returning to compliance, in the event of non-compliance, the DREAL may take other administrative action with the possibility of depositing sums, fines and administrative penalties, for example. “If the formal notice is not respected, it is a situation of crime, in terms of possible criminal consequences. Failure to comply with the prescription is just a violation »continues Franck Nass.
The mayor of Pontarlier, Patrick Genre, also does not have the power to force the company to move but assures that he understands the concerns of local residents: “We all agree that this place is not the best. About ten or a dozen years ago, we found land to relocate with the previous owners. We cannot say that the community does nothing. This could not be done for various reasons. If the current owner wishes to relocate, we will look at what we can do, but if he does not request it, it is not me who will impose it on him. I can't afford to leave the company.”.
Dangerous road traffic with 80 daily crossings
Neighborhood residents will have to endure the passage of trucks for a while longer. Jean-Marc Péchoux continues to denounce dangerous traffic, for example noting a 44-tonne slip on November 21. In April 2024, he had already written a letter to warn of various offenses: “Among the most spectacular, the towing, never seen until now, of carcasses of buses and trucks filled with waste between March 22 and 26, 2024, numerous dangerous and overflowing and uncovered loads, morning schedules not respected , yet promised to be sworn at 5:45 a.m., for example, on March 8, 2024, at 5 a.m., 5:25 a.m., 5:35 a.m., or on April 5, 2024 at 5 a.m. and 5:20 a.m., evening times like April 10 at 7:50 p.m., the accident on February 1, the Argillers stop sign not respected by a 44 ton in snowy and slippery weather (report on the Thelma website ), the hubbub of trucks, the necessary retreats to allow meetings in front of our homes, etc. ».
“We first proposed delays in delivery times and opening of the site. We have drivers who leave on a delayed basis. The number of everyday things we changed to try to suit. Indeed, we have heavy goods vehicles coming but today there is no issue of noise or olfactory nuisance. The main subject is the trucks, heavy goods vehicles which pass to access our site on a traffic which had been noted at the time by the town hall, I believe we are talking about twenty, 25 vehicles per day”affirms Guillaume Secula. DREAL estimates 80 daily passages for all vehicles in its July 2023 inspection report. For his part, Jean-Marc Péchoux counts more than a hundred trucks per day in November 2024.
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