April 1996 Edition of BUSINESS MEXICO
by John L. Garrison

With landfill space becoming scarcer and disposal costs more expensive, greater attention in being paid to the recycling and reuse of municipal, construction and demolition (C&D) wastes. At a recent two day Symposium on Construction and Waste Management, held in early February in Mexico City by the Mexican Association for the Control of Solid and Hazardous Wastes (Asociación Mexicana para el Control de los Residuos Sólidos y Peligrosos, A.C. (AMCRESPAC), the Mexican School of Civil Engineers (Colegio de Ingenieros Civiles de México, A.C.), and the National Counsel of Industrial Ecologists (Consejo Nacional de Industriales Ecologistas, A.C. (CONIECO), experts from Mexico, the United States and Latin America convened to discuss the latest industrial waste recycling techniques and explore the current state of waste management and recycling in Mexico.

The National Ecology Institute (Instituto Nacional de Ecologia) (INE), within the Secretariat of Environment, Natural Resources and Fisheries (Secretaria de Medio Ambiente, Recursos Naturales y Pesca) (SEMARNAP), estimates that approximately 6% of the country's 85,000 tons per day of wastes is recycled or reused, primarily in large cities. Between 30 and 40% of Mexico's solid waste according to INE comes from packaging with an additional 10 to 30% (15% in Mexico City) from industrial wastes. While there is no uniform definition of what constitutes industrial waste, studies conducted by the General Office of Urban Services within the Government of the Federal District (DDF) have found that 90% of the industrial waste in Mexico City consists of concrete, cement blocks or bricks and excavation material. The Federal District also calculates that 7% of all construction materials end up in Mexico City landfills, accounting for approximately 5,225 tons per day.

Shortage of landfill space

The problem posed by industrial waste is not only that it takes up valuable landfill space but many landfills are not designed to accommodate the high density and weight that most industrial wastes possess. "There are fewer areas available to dispose waste, fewer landfills in close proximity and disposal standards are becoming stricter," said Rubén Barocio Ramírez, Technical Subdirector of AMCRESPAC. According to the Government of the Federal District, Mexico City only has enough landfill space to last it another ten years through the year 2005. After that the City will have to transport and dispose its solid waste outside of the Metropolitan Area.

Mexico lags in industrial waste recycling

"Mexico is presently 20 years behind the United States and 30 years behind Europe in its industrial waste recycling capacity," William Turley, editor of C&D Debris Recycling magazine, told BUSINESS MEXICO. "Nevertheless, it is exciting to see the issue being addressed," Turley added. Although no accurate recycling figures exist in Mexico for industrial wastes, the materials that are most frequently recycled and reused include wood, bricks, paper, ceramics, glass and topsoil. Soils from the excavation of the metro in Mexico City, for example, are being used to create reforestation zones. In Guadalajara, the municipality of Tlaquepaque is experimenting with using industrial wastes to fill excavated areas and converting the land to much needed agricultural uses by adding a 60 cm layer of topsoil.

Industrial waste recycling capital intensive

The recycling of other more prominent industrial wastes, such as cement and asphalt is still not as prevalent in Mexico in part due to the large amount of capital that is involved. "Industrial waste recycling is very expensive," exclaimed Christopher M. Voell, Director of the Technical Services Group with the Solid Waste Association of North America, a US non-for profit organization. According to Voell the average separation and recuperation facility in the U.S. with the ability to crush concrete requires a minimum of US$ 500,000 to one million dollars. Luis F. Diaz, President of Cal Recovery Inc. which has done extensive solid waste consulting in Latin America, recommends site separation, recycling and recuperation systems that are manual labor intensive particularly in countries where capital is difficult to come by.

Standards and criteria needed

Numerous speakers stressed the need to better regulate waste management in Mexico and establish minimum standards for recyclable materials. "The construction industry perhaps has not received the environmental attention that it should," said Gabriel Quadri de la Torre, president of INE. According to Redolfo Lacy Tamayo, General Director of the General Office for the Prevention and Control of Contamination, in the Federal District (DDF), there is a need to identify the volume of industrial waste being generated, the types of materials being used, and applicable techniques and criteria for managing and recycling such wastes.

Beginning in March, INE plans to assemble a working group to propose a new Official Mexican Standard (Noma Oficial Mexicana) (NOM) to better regulate industrial waste and recyclable materials. "We hope to recycle 100% of construction materials in five years time,"Fidel Cortés Carballar, of INE told Mexican Business. According to a draft report prepared by INE in August of 1995, entitled "Strategies and Policies for Developing a National Waste Minimization and Recycling Project," 31.6 % of the organic and 31 % of the inorganic wastes in Mexico could potentially be recycled at a minimal costs if waste separation and recovery systems were established before collection and disposal. No official Mexican policy regarding waste minimization and recycling, however, has been formally released.

Municipal landfills remain unregulated

Currently only hazardous waste landfills are regulated in Mexico. There are no standards yet for the operation and construction of municipal waste disposal facilities. Technical standard, NOM-084-ECOL-1993, which was first published in draft form for comment on June 22, 1994, in the Diario Oficial de la Federación, when finally adopted, will regulate the design and construction of sanitary landfills and require new facilities to be built with impermeable linings and drainage, leachate monitoring and extraction systems. Meanwhile, few municipal landfills in Mexico, 17% according to INE, are presently equipped with synthetic linings to prevent the contamination of groundwater and ventilation systems to allow "biogass" (mostly methane) from the landfill's natural decomposition process to escape in a controlled manner. The lack of landfill ventilation systems in Mexico greatly reduces the economic feasibility of capturing and using biogass as an alternative energy source.

Regulation and disposal costs key to recycling efforts

The adoption in the early 1980's of stricter landfill and municipal sanitary regulations, higher tipping fees for construction and demolition landfills, and greater citizen consciousness, according to Christopher Voell, were the principal forces behind the growth of municipal and industrial waste processing and recycling facilities in the United States. "Government plays a vital role in the management of solid waste," said Voell, "while C&D waste recycling and reuse tends to be driven more by the private sector. " However, some question whether more stringent standards will have the same impact in Mexico.

Illegal dumping of municipal and hazardous wastes

"The problem currently facing Mexico," exclaimed Esther García Jauregui, with the Jalisco State Ecological Commission, "is that State and local governments lack control over the disposal of wastes in clandestine areas." Ms. García and a representative from the Federal District, each gave slide presentations demonstrating different forms of clandestine dumping of industrial as well as household and hazardous wastes, primarily along roadsides and in empty lots. "Local governments most often do not have the institutional development, the personnel or resources necessary to attack the problem of solid waste disposal," said Luis F. Díaz, of Cal Recovery, Inc.

Illegal dumping of hazardous wastes is an even greater problem. "Only 15 % of the 170,000,000 tons of industrial hazardous waste produced yearly in Mexico, is properly treated," exclaimed Robeito Herrera Ritte, with Pro Ambiente, S.A. de C.V., a hazardous waste recycling and transportation company in the state of Nuevo Leon. "85% of hazardous waste," added Herrera, "is disposed of illegally either in municipal drainage systems, landfills, in rivers or clandestine lots."

Enforcement key to recycling efforts

While companies in Mexico are beginning to install recycling equipment and explore different uses for hazardous wastes such as alternative fuels in the cement industry, most companies, according to Herrera, still prefer to dispose of their wastes illegally. The reason says Herrera is partly economic and partly due to a lack of ethics on the part of the business community. "It is expensive to properly dispose of wastes." Herrera told BUSINESS MEXICO. According to Luis F. Diaz, many companies are simply unwillingness to pay higher tipping fees and costs for the proper disposal or treatment of wastes.

Herrera also sees the problem as political and blames authorities for not being more committed to enforcing the law. David A. Robillard, Director of Market Strategies International, Mexico, an environmental marketing firm, agreed. "The need for waste minimization and recycling technologies in Mexico clearly exists, not only for solid and hazardous waste but for water as well," Robillard told BUSINESS MEXICO. "However, so long as it is cheaper to dump wastes illegally," Robillard said, "there is going to be little incentive to recycle or properly dispose of one's wastes." A first step according to panelists at the Symposium is greater education and awareness.