SPECIAL HANDLING WASTE

The Special Handling Waste (RME) are defined in the General Law for the Prevention and Integral Management of Waste (LGPGIR) as those generated in the productive processes that do not meet the criteria to be considered as urban solid waste or as hazardous waste, or which are produced by large of urban solid waste generators (DOF, 2003).

Since the recent regulation of this type of waste, currently there is information about the generation volumes for certain types, obtained through specific studies. The Basic Diagnosis for the Waste Integral Management, published by the INECC in 2012, reports that for the period 2006-2012, the information availability on the RME generation just covers six out of the eight categories in which the LGPGIR classifies them, in addition to an extra category for other waste types (see Box Origin of the special handling waste). For this period, the largest annual average generated volume was for livestock waste (pork and dairy cattle; 66.7 thousand tonnes), followed by paper and cardboard (6,820 tonnes) and construction and demolition waste (6.111 tonnes; Figure 7.15). In contrast, the RME produced in a lower annual average volume were household appliances (22 tonnes), batteries (34 tonnes) and sludge from the waste water treatment (232 tonnes). In the case of the cars that end their use life, in the same period, 805,202 units per year were disposed. The categories from which there is not still information are ones about rock waste or the decomposing products and the health waste (not taking into consideration the infectious-biological waste which are considered as hazardous).

Just as in the case of the generation, the information about the final RME destination is still scarce. Notwithstanding, the Basic diagnosis quoted above, reports that 67.4% of the airport waste⁴ produced between 2006 and 2012 was disposed in sanitary fills or controlled sites as well as 32% of the waste from hotels (INE, 2012). However, a part of the generated volume of some of the RME may be used annually: in the mentioned period some it was annually used a part of some generated waste, such waste was 68% of the waste produced by self-service stores, 49% of paper and cardboard, 32.2% of the airport waste, 4% of the fishing waste, 3.1% of batteries and 1.5% of hotels waste (see the Box The home appliance waste and The battery problem).

Nota:

⁴ This volume just considers the RME from the Mexico City Airport.