Chemical plants can be really nasty and this one with a history starting in 1907 is no exception - it's an eery place indeed. Having had chlorinated organic compounds on their menu of specialities give that we’re talking about some serious stuff here. The paper- and pulp industry have a long tradition of consuming large quantities of chemicals and most of the large companies had their own chemical plants, producing a wide variety of base-chemicals including some more exotic by-products.

Modern synthesis of more advanced chemicals took off after WWII, where the forest owners were offered a wide range of new fungicides, insecticides, weed killers and others. What could be more obvious for the paper- and pulp companies with their own chemical plants to start producing such stuff as they typically were large forest owners as well? During the 1960s, large quantities of herbicides known as phenoxy-acids, such as the dreaded 2,4-D and the 2,4,5-T where sprayed over forest land to eliminate small vegetation. As a result of the usage of Agent Orange in the Vietnam War, a strong debate and public pressure led to a ban of aerial spraying in 1972 in Sweden. Despite lobbying from the forest owners, a more general ban was enforced in 1977 but phenoxy-acids were completely banned surprisingly as late as 1992.

The plant followed a downward trajectory from the end of the 1960s but finally closed as late as in 1984. Presumably the state of the premises together with breakup of traditional vertical integration of the paper- and pulp industry added to the final fate. Although it seems to have been subject to some lame clean-up operations, the site really gives a sense of "buried secrets" and given what was on the menu, one could just imagine what was these piles of stuff really contains. There is an omnipresent sour smell there and something tells me that monochloroacetic acid was the basis of production there. I had an itchy feeling all over my body and got rash, so entering these parts where the doors had been welded shut was probably a stupid idea. Other curious people before me had done the dirty work of cutting these open...
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