Hazardous-waste management at the Mexican-U.S. border

GIS‐based emergency response planning in a Mexico–U.S. border community

“…The governments of the United States and Mexico are concerned with the maquiladora industry because of the hazardous waste it produces. In the event of mismanagement, hazardous waste can seep into the ground water or enter the ambient environment and affect both sides of the border (Davis and Altamirano, 1989). It is difficult to estimate the volume of hazardous waste generated by maquiladoras (Bowen et al, 1995;Sánchez, 1990); however, when combined with untreated sewage and other sources of pollution created by the burgeoning border population, the danger to human health and to the environment is enormous (Barry, 1994).…”

The Transfer of Core-Based Hazardous Production Processes to the Export Processing Zones of the Periphery: The Maquiladora Centers of Northern Mexico

“…Maquiladoras generate a substantial amount of hazardous waste (including solvents such as trichloroethylene, acids, heavy metals like lead and nickel, paints, oils, resins, and plastics) that goes untreated and is unaccounted for, despite fairly stringent laws in the U.S. and Mexico. 20 Despite the existence of a binational agreement (the La Paz Agreement) requiring U.S. companies to return wastes associated with the use of toxic materials, only 25% of such wastes were returned and 65% of such wastes were unaccounted for in eithe1· the U.S. or Mexico in the 1990s (Perry, Sanchez, and Glaze 1998 Barry (1994), Davis and Perez (1989), Mumme (1999), Reed (1998), Sanchez (1990Sanchez ( , 1991, and Varady, Lankao, and Hankins (2001) for a useful overview of the issues. for storage and abandoned or dumped illegally in the desert and other locations (Clapp 2002a;Reed 1998;Simon r997:208ff).…”