BECC Plays Active Role at Regional Workshop on Solid Waste & Landfill Management

“Juárez has been an example of the efforts undertaken to improve solid waste management. The challenge now lies in recycling and its benefits,” remarked Jose Mario Sanchez Soledad, BECC Deputy General Manager, during the opening ceremony.

He indicated that the solid waste management problem is an urgent need in smaller towns, but it’s vital for interested parties to collaboratively work together in order to exchange ideas and reach concrete results or proposals.

Additionally, Jose Ignacio Legarreta Castillo, from SEMARNAT Chihuahua, stated that because of help from organizations such as the BECC, solid waste infrastructure in Chihuahua will be covered from thirty to eighty percent in a relatively short time frame.

“With a network, we can make progress more quickly to benefit those communities with the greatest need,” Legarreta Castillo said.

He added that often, as with the case of Delicias, Chihuahua, building a landfill that complies with 083 Standards has been complicated, but nonetheless has had positive results.

Furthermore, he stated that an important challenge for Juárez has been addressing the used tires at the landfill issue, which is the largest in Mexico; however efforts to mitigate the problem have been undertaken.

“The problem should be resolved by the end of 2012 or 2013.”

According to Jorge Gutierrez Casas, City of Juárez, Director of Public Services, the social benefit of having an efficient landfill has been significant.

He stated that they are now working on a recycling program aimed at obtaining investments from businesses to create more jobs and improve the environment.

With the changes implemented since 2004, he stated, pollution has been reduced by ninety percent.

Officials from several small towns in Chihuahua attended the workshop, including Ojinaga, Ascesión, Guadalupe Distrito Bravos - communities looking for solutions to their solid waste problems.

The more than fifty attendees at the workshop gathered information not only from the presentations but, also had hands-on experience during Tuesday afternoon’s visit to the Juárez landfill and Wednesday’s visit to the hazardous waste collection facility in Ascensión.

As part of his presentation the BECC’s Deputy General Manager discussed some of the challenges that need to be overcome when developing a solid waste project, including landfill size and rating of waste in order to determine its reusability in the market. He stressed that in the 17 years the BECC has been in operation, it has certified 21 municipal solid waste projects along the U.S.-Mexico border, worth $63.39 million dollars. There are two in Chihuahua; one in Ojinaga and the other in Ascensión - both worth $2.27 million dollars.

In his role as Deputy Manager of the bi-national organization, he noted that the BECC currently has three solid waste projects in the pipeline worth an estimated $5.51 million dollars. However, solid waste management infrastructure needs have been identified along the border, totaling approximately $15 million dollars. He added that in the this area alone, there are two projects, one in El Paso near Zaragoza, and another that involves the expansion of the Ojinaga landfill.