WASTES REQUIRING SPECIAL MANAGEMENT

Wastes that require special management (RME for its initials in Spanish) were recently defined in the General Law for Waste Prevention and Integrated Management (DOF, 2003). According to this Law, RME include those wastes generated during production processes which do not qualify as either hazardous or urban solid wastes, or that are produced by large generators of urban solid waste. Some examples of this sort of wastes are shown in the Box Wastes requiring special management.

Due to the recent regulation of this type of wastes, currently no data are available on the volume generated for some categories of them. Figure 7.14 shows the estimated generation of RME in 2005 for four of the eight services producing them: most come from the construction and demolition of households, industrial and commercial facilities (77%); 18% correspond to sludge from municipal wastewater treatment plants; 3% to wastes generated from the transport sector (mostly from passenger stations and commercial and administrative activities, as well as from the movement of transportation units) and 2% to wastes generated in healthcare units (Semarnat-INE, 2006).

According to the Diagnosis of Electronic Waste Generation in Mexico, the annual country-wide generation of electronic wastes (including TV, PCs and laptops, audio equipment and mobile phones) was estimated to range between 150 thousand and 180 thousand tons per year (IPN, 2007).