EPA advances recycling on the US-Mexico border

United States – The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded more than US$ 460 000 to seven environmental projects along the US-Mexico border, including one to expand a municipal oil recycling programme and another to boost scrap tyre recycling rates.

The investment forms part of the Border 2020 plan whose main aims are to help prevent the build-up of piles of scrap tyres and to bolster end-of-life tyre (ELT) recycling capacity. Some 6 million scrap tyres have been recovered from Ciudad Juarez alone; these were later converted into fuel.

Last year marked the 20th anniversary of the North American Free Trade Agreement and the 30th anniversary of the La Paz Agreement, EPA points out. ‘Through these agreements, EPA has made significant investments that have resulted in major environmental benefits including more than 570 tonnes of e-waste properly disposed or recycled, and the removal of more than 12 million scrap tyres from dump sites border-wide,’ it says.

For more information, visit: www.epa.gov