Mexico orders factory cleanup after toxic waste investigation

Mexican environmental regulators say they have found 30,000 tonnes of improperly stored material with "hazardous characteristics" in the yard of a Mexican plant recycling toxic waste shipped from the US.

- Verónica García de León Erin McCormick

The authorities ordered "urgent measures" to get the materials into proper storage as part of inspections after an investigation by the Guardian and Quinto Elemento Lab, which raised questions about contamination around the plant in the Monterrey metro area.

The stories, published last month, included analysis of Google Earth imagery that showed what appeared to be thousands of white sacks of the type often used to store industrial powders piling up at the site.

After the articles were published, regulators from the Mexican federal agency in charge of environmental inspection and enforcement, Profepa, began an investigation and spent seven days at the Zinc Nacional plant, which recycles hazardous waste from the steel industry to recover zinc. It ordered the shutdown of 15 pieces of equipment that did not have proper authorisation.

Authorities said they found improperly stored material - in some cases in broken and leaking bags - in the open air and in direct contact with the ground. The agency has given the company 15 days to get the material into proper storage.

"The first thing is that they have to prevent it from being in contact with natural soil and they must move it to a space that complies with the regulations," said Profepa's head, Mariana Boy, in an interview.