Project description

Title: Plan for waste prevention and integrated waste management in Altamira, Tamaulipas
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Mexico
Partner: BASF, Terminal of Liquefied Natural Gas of Altamira (TLA), Altamira local authority
Overall term: 2006 to 2010

Context

The municipality of Altamira, in the south of Tamaulipas state, is one of the region's most important economic centres, alongside the cities of Tampico and Ciudad Madero. Almost a quarter of the state's population lives in these three cities, which cover just two percent of its territory.

At the end of 2004, an integrated waste management standard took effect in Mexico that also regulates the management of household waste at a local authority level. To date, only a handful of municipalities fully comply with its provisions. Altamira, too, lacks the necessary expertise and knowledge for collecting and transporting household waste, or for its processing and final disposal, although the municipal authority does already have a landfill site for the final disposal of waste, which complies with the regulations.

Objective

The Altamira local authority implements a waste management plan that promotes the sorting and proper management of wastes, stronger local authority institutional structures and public participation in waste management.

Approach

The PPP is divided into three phases. During the first phase (2006-2007), with the support of GTZ, a waste management plan was drafted for the local authority. This document contains a detailed description of the current waste management situation in Altamira, an evaluation of the critical factors and consideration of short, medium and long-term strategies for implementing the plan.

The second phase (2007-2008) began with a pilot project on sorting and collecting waste in selected districts of Altamira. A second partner from the private sector, TLA, which is a joint venture between Shell, Total and Mitsui, joined the project at the same time. The third phase (until 2010) was launched in December 2008 and focuses on developing the infrastructure that is still needed for proper waste management and on expanding waste sorting to the entire community. Moreover, measures are being taken to improve the sustainability of the project, for instance strengthening the local authority's institutional structures for waste management. In this regard, public participation is also being promoted - not only in the context of sorting household waste, but also through public involvement in a follow-up commission.

The PPP partners are making the following contributions to the implementation of the waste management plan for Altamira:

• GTZ is providing experts in urban waste management, who are responsible for advising and training experts at local authority level. In addition, GTZ is responsible for backstopping the entire project. It has contracted a consulting firm to design the composting plant.
• BASF and TLA are financing the composting plant as well as a public awareness campaign on waste sorting, recycling and waste management that is geared towards Altamira's population. In addition, BASF is covering the costs of designing the planned waste collection site.
• The Altamira local authority is coordinating activities on the ground. These include selecting the piece of land for the composting plant, supervising construction work, preparing for and carrying out planning and training activities, implementing the public awareness campaign and introducing waste sorting at a local authority level.

Results achieved so far

Altamira's local authority is introducing a waste management plan and waste sorting, improving its management of waste and strengthening institutional structures in this field. A composting plant is also being built and a waste collection site is being designed. Furthermore, the population is being made more aware of waste sorting, recycling and waste management and is becoming more involved in political decisions on these issues.