Waste Policy Forum

Basic Information

Border Land Contamination Background
What is the Waste Policy Forum (WPF)?
Border 2012 Land Contamination (Goal 3) Objectives & Sub-Objectives
Land Contamination Indicators

Border Land Contamination Background

In the border region, rapid industrialization and the associated population increase have created a need for improved hazardous waste, solid waste and scrap tire management infrastructure. Some of the specific waste issues include the tracking of transboundary shipment of hazardous waste; health and environmental risks posed by inactive contaminated sites; a large accumulation of scrap tires in the border region; and the need for increased development of new hazardous waste disposal sites. The Border 2012 Program has made great strides at combating many of these land environmental issues.

Annex III of the La Paz Agreement establishes the importance of cooperation between the United States and Mexico on hazardous waste and substances in the border region.

What is the Waste Policy Forum (WPF)?

The Border 2012 Waste Policy Forum focuses on broad waste policy issues that require an ongoing dialogue between the U.S. and Mexico. The Waste Policy Forum is guided by the priorities of the respective nations and by the policy needs identified by the Regional and Border-wide 2012 Program workgroups. This policy forum is co-chaired by Matt Hale of USEPA and Alfonzo Flores of SEMARNAT. The Policy Forum benefits from broad-based stakeholder input by including non-governmental and community-based organizations, academic institutions, local, state, and tribal representatives, and binational organizations from both countries with expertise in waste issues.

The Border 2012 WPF works to meet the Border 2012 waste objectives on scrap tires, capacity building, hazardous waste tracking systems, and contaminated sites.

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Border 2012 Goal 3 Land Contamination Objectives & Sub-Objectives

The Waste Policy Forum (WPF), in collaboration with the Regional Workgroups, continues to assess and address the border's hazardous and solid waste problems and has made great strides in reaching the objectives of Goal #3: To Reduce Land Contamination.

During 2007, the U.S.-Mexico Border 2012 Program reached its 10-year mid-point. Refinements for the objectives and new sub-objectives have been created to more clearly define the tasks that will be implemented before 2012.

Goal #3: Reduce Land Contamination

Original Objectives (2003)	New/Revised Objectives or Sub-Objectives	Notes
Objective 1 By 2004, identify needs and develop an action plan to improve institutional and infrastructure capacity for waste management and pollution prevention as they pertain to hazardous and solid waste and toxic substances along the U.S. Mexico border. Starting in 2005, the plan will be implemented and conducted by 2012.	Revised Sub-Objective 1A. By 2012, develop or identify capacity building materials for source reduction, recycling and management of selected waste streams, for example: electronics waste and spent lead acid batteries. Sub-Objective 1A-a. By 2012, implement 2 capacity building activities for selected waste streams. Sub-Objective 1B. By 2012, develop or identify capacity building materials for source reduction, recycling and management of municipal solid waste. Sub-Objective 1B-a. By 2012, implement 2 capacity building activities for solid waste.	Original Objective: Accomplished The action plan to improve institutional and infrastructure capacity for waste management and pollution prevention as they pertain to hazardous and solid waste and toxic substances along the U.S. Mexico border has been completed. It defines four areas of focus: selected waste streams, municipal solid waste, tire pile prevention and hazardous waste management capacity.
Objective 2 By 2004, evaluate the hazardous waste tracking system in the United States and Mexico. During the year 2006, develop and consolidate the link between both tracking systems	Revised Sub-Objective 2A. By 2010, pilot an electronic exchange of export and import notice and consent data between U.S. and Mexico databases with assistance from the Commission for Environmental Cooperation. By 2012, complete the electronic data exchange between EPA and SEMARNAT databases.	The evaluation of hazardous waste tracking systems has been completed. The U.S. and Mexico have completed a number of steps toward electronic data exchange of exports and imports notice and consent data through an initiative of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) Hazardous Waste Task Force.
Objective 3 By 2010, clean up three of the largest sites that contain abandoned waste tires in the U.S. Mexico border region, based on policies and programs developed in partnership with local governments.	New Sub-Objective 3A. By 2012, develop capacity building materials for scrap tire pile prevention and scrap tire management. Sub-Objective 3B. By 2012, address recommendations from the 2006 U.S.-Mexico Border Scrap Tire Integrated Management Initiative which defines the principles and actions necessary for sustainable scrap tire management, one of which is market development. Sub-Objective 3C. When practicable, clean up small tire piles, at least once in each of the four regional workgroup geographic areas.	Two of the largest tire piles in the border region, Centinela and Innor, have been cleaned up. Clean-up is under way at a third large site in the eastern half of the border. The new objectives will focus on scrap tire pile prevention and management.
Objective 4 By 2004, develop a binational policy of clean-up and restoration resulting in the productive use of abandoned sites contaminated with hazardous waste or materials, along the length of the border, in accordance with the laws of each country. By 2007, apply this policy at least once in each of the four geographic regions.	Revised Sub-Objective 4A. By 2012, apply a binational framework on clean-up/remediation and restoration of sites contaminated with hazardous waste or materials policy at least once in each of the four regional workgroup geographic areas.	One clean-up/remediation is near completion. The Waste Policy Forum agreed that the term, “abandoned” created unexpected limitations on achieving Objective 4 so the term has been removed. A binational framework was deemed more relevant than a binational policy.

Land Contamination Indicators

As part of the Border 2012 Indicators Task Force, the Waste Policy Forum (WPF) strives to develop a comprehensive set of environmental and performance indicators to increase the understanding of the land contamination issues in the border region. The term "indicator" refers to a single variable or output value from a set of data that conveys meaningful information to stakeholders. Indicators are important for measuring the environmental and public health conditions.

View the WPF Border 2012 Waste Indicators (PDF) (12 pp, 157K, About PDF) which were finalized in February 2008. These indicators are linked to Goal 3, Reducing Land Contamination, of the Border 2012 Program and were developed to communicate important information about the border region and to evaluate progress made toward achieving the Program's Land Contamination (waste) objectives.

The Border 2012 Measuring Results page provides detailed information on the Border 2012 indicator process.