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INDUSTRIAL HAZARDOUS WASTE - EXPORTS AND IMPORTS
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Note: Less than half of the waste imported into Texas is managed within the state.
Most goes to other states.
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Source: Number of Maquilas from Secretariat of Commerce and
Industrial Development, Government of Mexico, 1997; Tons of hazardous waste and top exporter from the Environmental Protection Agency, Region VI, HAZTRAKS
Database, 1998.
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Maquiladoras are manufacturing plants located in Mexico that import at least 75 percent of
their raw materials, assemble them in Mexico, and export a finished product, usually to the United States. In the summer of 2003 there were some 3,230 maquiladoras located
throughout Mexico, and some 1,260 -- 40 percent -- were located in the four Mexican states—Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas—bordering Texas.* Most of these maquiladoras are at least partially owned by U.S. corporations and use U.S. raw materials
to make products such as semiconductors, electronic components, textiles, chemicals, and auto parts.
Under both Mexican law and the La Paz Agreement—an environmental agreement
signed by the United States and Mexico in 1983—the wastes from the production process must also be returned to the country from which the raw materials were imported.* Despite this requirement, however, Texas commercial facilities reportedly receiving only 5,660 tons of hazardous waste from Mexico in
1997 and 3,100 tons in 1999, most of which went to fuel-blending facilities for later incineration or for underground injection.*
Only 11,057 tons of hazardous waste were exported from Mexico to the United States in
1997, about half of which passed through Texas before being deposited, either in Texas or in Continued on next page other states.* While little is known about the actual amount of hazardous waste generated in maquiladoras, evidence
suggests that the volume of hazardous waste is many times higher than what is returned. The World Bank, for
example, estimated that 80 percent of the hazardous waste is not repatriated but remains stored on-site or is otherwise illegally disposed of in Mexico.* The government of Mexico estimated in 1994 that only 12 percent of the
estimated 8 million tons of hazardous waste generated in Mexico is properly disposed of within Mexico or exported legally.*
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IMPORTS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE FROM MEXICO INTO THE U.S., 1991-1997
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YEAR
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TONS
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1991
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5,779
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1992
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6,826
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1993
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9,836
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1994
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10,513
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1995
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8,510
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1996
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6,983
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1997
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11,057
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Source: Environmental Protection Agency, Region VI and IX, HAZTRAKS
Database, 1998.
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In 1993 the EPA implemented a new hazardous waste tracking system, called
HAZTRAKS, to better track how much hazardous waste was being imported from Mexico and also to help determine if hazardous waste regulations were
being violated. The computer system uses "cradle-to-grave" hazardous waste manifests to record the waste from its initial generation and transport to its
disposal. EPA officials are sent manifests from U.S. Customs about a week after the shipments cross the border, while the final manifests finally are entered into
HAZTRAKS some four to six months after the border crossing. In addition, Mexico has provided information to the system from the import and export
documents that companies file with the Mexican government. In 1998 Mexico announced that it had begun a new compatible computer and reporting system that should help improve HAZTRAKS.*
Nevertheless, HAZTRAKS and the Mexican computer system have not lived up to
their promise and in 2003, the EPA -- due mainly to a lack of funds -- officially put the tracking system on hold. The main impediment has been the lack of funds to continue the system.
Mexico bans the import of hazardous waste for disposal. However, the country does allow the import of waste if it will
be recycled or recovered. For example, in 1999 Texas recycled steel industry shipped about 35,000 tons of hazardous
waste to a commercial zinc-recovery facility in Matamoros, Mexico, a significant decline from 1997, went nearly 85,000 tons were sent to Mexico.*
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