Concept

Paper industry

Papermaking technology went through several stages. Initially, it was made by hand, by shredding rags in vats using piles driven by hydraulic power (piles with mallets). The Dutch pile or cylinder pile, more efficient and of greater capacity, became widespread at the end of the 18th century and the continuous machine, which represents the beginning of the mechanisation process in the sector, became widespread from the 1920s onwards and reached great development at the end of the 19th century. In Spain, the first continuous machine was installed in Manzanares el Real (Madrid) in 1836. Until the 1960s, the basic raw material was rags or esparto grass, and from then onwards paper pulp began to be used.

The Basque Country had no tradition in the paper industry, except for the manufacture of playing cards carried out in San Sebastian in the early 18th century (probably linked to a charitable institution) or in Abando (Bizkaia), next to the convent of the Mercedarias in 1764, owned by a Frenchman, Fernando Hour Milorgue, and with a workforce of the same nationality. The first records of the existence of paper mills are in Bérriz (1779 paper mill owned by Fausto Antonio de Arriaga, son of a notary from Durango) and Zalla (somewhat later than 1782 (owned by IX Señor de Urrutia de Avellaneda), taking advantage of the infrastructure of old ironworks. The establishment of Alegría de Oria in Gipuzkoa dates back to the very beginning of the 19th century and that of Nemesio Uranga in Tolosa to 1803. In 1817 there was a handmade paper mill in Tolosa. In Bizkaia, the paper mill located in San Esteban de Echévarri, established in the Leguizamón forge, which was already operating in 1833, had a "sixteen-blade cylinder" for tearing rags. In the 1940s, the so-called La Peña factory (Basauri) was set up in the old style, and another more recent one, in the same municipality, called Artunduaga, seemed no more innovative. And nothing is clear about the one installed in Abando.

These and other attempts do not seem to have been consolidated until the customs offices were moved to the coast in 1841 and, technologically speaking, they were in the more traditional phase, with mallets and vats and some, like the one in Echévarri, with the Dutch basin. Once the customs offices were located on the coast and on the French border, part of the indigenous and foreign (French) industrial investment was directed towards the paper mills, taking advantage of the waterfalls left by the mills and forges in decline, as the new companies were initially powered by hydraulic motors. In 1842, the Brunet, Guardamino and Tantonat company's La Esperanza continuous paper mill in Tolosa began production. In just a few years, the sector grew considerably. By the 1960s, five continuous paper companies were operating: three in Tolosa, including the aforementioned Esperanza, one in Alegría and another in Irura owned by Messrs Echezarreta, Larion and Aristi (1844). There were also two handmade or wattle and daub paper mills (in Belaunza and Zegama) and two cardboard and brown paper mills (Legazpia and Tolosa) and probably another brown paper mill in Amezketa. In San Sebastian, Rousson, Mayor and company established a wallpaper factory in 1846. Part of the capital and skilled labour and above all the technology came from abroad, especially from France. The machinery for La Esperanza came from Angoulème (France) and was installed by its builder, M. Matteu. By 1860, the paper industry in the Basque Country and Navarre (the statistics include data from both territories for tax reasons) was in third place in Spain, behind Barcelona and Alicante in terms of the value of paper produced and in first place in terms of weight, followed by Barcelona, Tarragona and Gerona. Of the Spanish total, the Basque Country and Navarre had around 6 per cent of the number of vats for foil, half-foil, cigarette, plain, wrapping and brown paper and the number of continuous paper machines accounted for 18 per cent, which was evidence of an intense process of modernisation. At that time, rags, the remains of espadrilles and esparto grass pulp were still used as raw materials. The fact that in the second half of the 1940s there was a large 'mechanical paper depot' in San Sebastian suggests that the market for continuous paper mills was not limited to the province. The 1846 measure which reserved the demand for paper in the public administration to handmade paper and the increase in tobacco consumption do not seem to underlie the development of paper production in Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, as the continuous machine did not provide these types of paper.

The second Carlist war (1872-1876) was a serious setback. However, the extension of the railway network from the 1960s onwards, which in some cases passed close to the paper mills (as was evident in Toulouse) and the technological change brought about by the substitution of rags for mechanical wood pulp as a raw material, particularly benefited the Basque paper mills, since, at the beginning, wood pulp was imported from Northern Europe and therefore the cost of transport was cheaper for companies located on the Cantabrian coast than for those located in the Mediterranean or inland. And the railway network made it possible to distribute a heavy and relatively cheap product such as ordinary paper at an acceptable cost. There was also the abundant availability of water.

As in other industrial sectors, around 1900, an important process of grouping companies took place. Thus, in 1901, Papelera Española was created, made up of Papelera del Cadagua, Vizcaya, Vascongada, Guipuzcoana, Laurak Bat, Navarra, Zaragozana, Gosálvez, Manchega, Magdalena, Aragonesa and Segoviana.

The First World War (1914-1918) eliminated foreign competition and favoured the growth of the sector. A second process of concentration took place in 1927, the year in which the Paper Association was set up, which brought together 80% of Spanish mills. This association closed the most inefficient companies and promoted new factories such as the Papelera del Oarso in Errenteria in 1931. At the same time it promoted vertical integration, with forestry plantations, the creation of publishing houses, -Espasa-Calpe- and newspapers -El Sol-. It is no coincidence that the managing director of Papelera Española, Don Nicolás María de Urgoiti, was also the director of the newspaper El Sol.

The Civil War, the Second World War, Franco's autarkic policy and the lack of foreign currency made it difficult to import raw materials (pulp). The use of new fibres and the self-provisioning of wood pulp was sought through a reforestation policy based on eucalyptus and pinus insignis, fast-growing trees that provided adequate fibre. The Papelera del Norte (1943) dates from the immediate post-war period. Given the need for abundant water resources, the paper industry in Gipuzkoa tended to concentrate on the banks of the Oria, especially in Tolosa, and in Bizkaia in the Cadagua basin. In 1955, Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia produced 41% of the national paper and 34% of the pulp.

The development of the paper industry has been closely linked to publishing (books, press...) as evidenced by the fact that in 1955 55% of the tonnes of paper produced were destined for printing (40.44%) and newsprint (14.26%). The low level of reading in Spain helps to understand the slowness of the modernisation processes in the sector, to a large extent.

In the 1971 National Paper Census, there were 21 mills in Gipuzkoa, seven in Bizkaia and four in Navarre. At the same time, of a total Spanish production of paper and cardboard of 1,339,467 tonnes, Gipuzkoa produced 293,487 tonnes, Bizkaia 103,618 and Navarre 74,971 tonnes. The Basque-Navarre region produced almost 36% of the Spanish total.

Paper, given its characteristics - it is easy to destroy and degrade, and does not use high levels of chemical products - is a non-polluting product, although its manufacture requires large quantities of water. However, the manufacture of cellulose poses the problem of the residual bleach discharged into rivers.