Putting 151 Atlantic Newsprint employees out of work, Canada's first newspaper recycling plant closed on Friday after 19 years.

The facility in Whitby east of Toronto was no longer profitable with a major decline in demand for newsprint paper and the rise of the Canadian dollar to near-parity with the U. S. dollar, which made raw material costs more expensive, said company President John Cherry in a news release.

The company also said that since opening in 1991, the facility processed more than 200,000 tons of newspapers and magazines each year and sold recycled newsprint to major papers in North America.

Cherry further said in the release, "Unfortunately, discussions with various government levels and the union were not enough to offset the negative impact of the market conditions affecting the newsprint industry." (With Inputs from Agencies)