Mexico City sharpens recycling focus

Mexico – Mexico City is to close one of the world’s largest rubbish dumps and instead turn its waste into reusable materials and energy, according to its Mayor Marcelo Ebrard. The city is instituting a new recycling programme for nearly all forms of refuse and is set to embark on a major project to harness methane gas to be used in the production of energy.

Henceforth, all 700 trucks that carried refuse to the Bordo Poniente dump will be used instead to transport it to a recycling separation and composting plant on site. A new plant will open for recycling construction waste into building material and the city will start working with the 1500 pepenadores – or scavengers – who had informally worked at the dump to resell material. Other smaller dumps are expected to open to manage remaining waste.

Concrete giant Cemex SAB has already agreed to purchase some 3000 tonnes of waste on a daily basis for converting into energy, according to government under-secretary Juan Jose Garcia Ochoa.