Options for waste management in Mexico
Source reduction: In Mexico source reduction (included in the main categories of pollution prevention) is a
relatively new concept which was mainly introduced in about the year 2000. However, towards the end of the
1980’s when the General Law for Ecological Equilibrium and Environment Protection (Ley General del
Equilibrio Ecológico y la Proteccion al Ambiente) (LGEEPA) was passed, some aspects related to waste
reduction were already being mentioned (Careaga, 1997), although not specifically enough in order for them
to become concrete actions.
Recycling: After avoiding waste production and source reducing it, recovering materials to be utilized is the
following activity in order of importance in the waste management hierarchy (Phillips, 2001; Shah, 2000;
Cortinas de Nava, 2002b). The separation of wastes from the main stream may be achieved through waste
recycling / composting and reusing. Recycling is the processing of wastes that may be used as raw materials in
manufacturing. In Mexico scarce attention has paid to waste separation and recovery programs for its
recycling. Although the recovery of recyclables is not new to the world, in everyday practice this potential is
wasted in Mexico because there is no waste management system that promotes the separation of wastes with
recycling potential. In spite of this, there are various groups involved in the separation, collection and sale of
materials separated from waste main stream. The recovery of recyclable wastes in Mexico is minimal,
different between cities and uncontrolled, so there is no exact data regarding it. In Mexico the supply of
materials for the recycling industry is achieved through the recovery of recyclables both in the formal and
informal sectors. Data for Mexico City indicate that out of the total waste generated, the material collected for
recycling does not exceed 7.5% (Carega, 1997). According to data from SEDUE and SEDESOL reported by
the Instituto Nacional de Ecología (National Ecology Institute) (1999) the economic potential for recovery and
recycling of products contained in MSW in Mexico would total over 16.8 million pesos daily. This calculation
is based on the economic potential represented by the recoverable materials from the solid wastes generated in
the country. In the Mexican the recovery of recyclables is done mainly through the informal sector,
specifically through wastepickers, street sweepers and employees of the cleaning department, but their
contribution hasn’t been quantified.
Table 2 presents the volumes of MSW that was separated for recycling in Mexico according to the official
numbers, that is, this data is based on the volumes of recyclables that finally reached a formal sector recovery
or recycling site and that managed to enter the official numbers, due to which the contribution of recyclables
recovered by the informal sector are left out, except in the cases where this sector has traded the wastes
recovered with the formal sector.
The percentages of waste recovered in Mexico for recycling are very low, metals being the ones with the
highest levels of recovery. However, considering the total waste produced in Mexico yearly, the proportion of
waste recovered for recycling is even lower. In Mexico there is no trend of increase in the separation of
recyclables because there is a great lag regarding strategies to promote this practice. The markets for all
secondary materials are cyclical. This also explains the price fluctuations, the differences being greater at the
production level than at the level of purchase by the end user of the sub product (INE, 1999; Cortinas, 2001;
Ackerman, 1997). The economic aspects of the secondary material industry are the same as for any other
industrial activity. Therefore, the sub products obtained from waste recycling, might not get sold, they can
become a financial burden for those who generate them, be stored until the market recovers, or end up in
landfills (INE, 2001, López, 1997).
Another aspect that influences recycled materials marketing is the fear that using them will mean making
adjustments to the production processes in the manufacturing companies. That is why they do not wish to
purchase recycled materials. In this sense there is also the fear of changes in the quality of their products or
increase in costs due to their collection, storage and transportation. On the other hand, manufacturers
frequently quote consumers’ resistance to buy products made with recycled materials because of their lack of
trust concerning the quality, so these sub products are discriminated against and in many cases, new materials
may turn out to be cheaper than recycled ones (INE, 2001). The high cost of recycled products in Mexico may
be due to the fact that most of them are imported, because the recycled products’ market in Mexico is not
developed yet, and therefore, neither is the culture for consumption of this type of waste. According to the
INE (1999), the industry will set up plants for processing and using waste, as long as this represents a
profitable investment and not because it is a moral imperative to contribute to the environment. Thus the
benefits that the recycling industries being promoted can have, must be clearly emphasized (Careaga, 1997;
McKenzie-Mohr, 1999). In this way, governments (federal, state and municipal) obtain various benefits
through the existence of recycling industries, since these potentially represent the option of reducing solid
waste disposal costs. The transformation of recyclable materials into new products adds value to waste in each
stage of the process and may be translated into a large amount of job sources in the manufacturing, processing
and transportation industrial sectors (Quadri, 1997). In the case of Mexico’s northern border, the market for
recyclables is influenced by the same type of market in the United States, because, the recyclable materials
separated from the rest of the waste are sold, in most cases, to the North American market. This feature is
partly due to the high costs linked to the transportation of recyclables towards the inside of the country where
most of Mexico’s recycling plants are located, making it more attractive to sell recyclables to recycling plants
on the border strip on the side of United States (Ojeda, et. al, 2002). Although this may seem to be an
advantage, due to the consolidation of the recyclables market in the United States, this fact represents in turn a
weakness since the recycling programs of various institutions along the border depend on the fluctuations of
that market in the USA. Likewise, the sale of recyclables to foreign plants prevents the search for local
solutions to waste recycling, search that could lead to the creation of Mexican recycling plants, thus
strengthening the national market and providing a solution for the regional demand.
Composting and incineration
There is little information available for composting plants in Mexico. It can be said that although one of the
main elements in MSW in Mexico is organic waste, speaking in general terms, in Mexico the utilization of
organic matter through composting is incipient. Although the only information available about the composting
plants shows them to be inactive or to have never been operational, it is possible that some plants have
become operational since; however, no results have been published to that effect.
In Mexico legal MSW incineration is not practiced currently. In Mexico City a plant was built for MSW
incineration which later underwent an attempt to turn it into a plant for treatment of hazardous biologically
infectious waste. This plant is currently closed (INE, 1999). No reports were found of other MSW incineration
plants currently operational in the country. However it is known that there is a great amount of illegal burning
of MSW and other types of waste (hospital, hazardous and industrial) which usually takes place in the
peripheral areas of the cities or in the rural areas which are not provided with a waste collection service, and in
the MSW open-air dumps. It is estimated that of the 12 million tons of MSW with informal and inadequate
disposal in the year 2000, 741,000 tons were burnt (García, et. al, 2001). This type of illegal waste
“incineration” provides a partial solution to the problem of waste disposal, because, at the same time, it creates
air pollution problems.
Solid waste legal and regulations framework
It was only till October 8th, 2003 that the General Law for Waste Prevention and Waste Integral Management
(Ley General para la Prevention y Manejo Integral de Residuos) was published in the Diario Oficial de la
Federación (Official Federal Journal) filling in many of the regulation gaps regarding solid waste
management. This Law considers waste from a double perspective: 1) as a potential contaminant that must be
avoided, reduced and managed in an environmentally adequate manner, as well as paying for this management
in accordance with the principle of the polluter must pay; and 2) as material endowed with a value, that can be
employed through reuse, recycling or recovery of the energy contained in it—as long as this is done in an
environmentally adequate manner. This leads as a consequence, to the establishment of sustainable
mechanisms to regulate and control it within the Law (Cortinas de Nava, 2003). Also the new law
acknowledges the existence of the informal sector that takes part in the gathering and separation of potentially
recyclable waste, which has already been discussed earlier in this chapter. The formal incorporation of this
sector is suggested to be carried out in a gradual and flexible manner, in accordance with the needs and
possibilities of each location. At the light of the new General Law for Waste Prevention and Waste Integral
Management, new official regulations will have to be issued in order to regulate and enforce the new
resolutions concerning municipal solid waste prevention, generation, management and disposal.
Armijo de Vega et al. (2006) Waste management system in Mexico: history, state of the art and trends.
Journal of Solid Waste Technology and Management.