Shutdown at Mexico toxic waste plant after Guardian investigation revealed pollution in nearby homes | Mexico

The authorities have ordered the closure of a Mexican recycling factory that deals with the dangerous waste that was exported from the United States, after an investigation by Guardian and Quinto Elemento Lab, which revealed the pollution of heavy metal metal in homes and nearby schools.

The Federal Agency described the closure as “temporary”, and said that it will conduct a several -day inspection that would verify the factory compliance with environmental regulations. A few days ago, the state government agency said it had identified problems with the anti -emissions equipment in the factory.

These procedures follow a A story published on Tuesday This follows how US steel companies charge polluted dust from the recycling of the metal to the NACIONAL Zinc Factory, where they are treated in ovens to restore zinc.

The reports team collaborated with Martín Soto Jiménez, a researcher in the toxicology at Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México (UNAM), who took samples of soil and dust in homes and schools surrounding the factory, in a large part of the Metrropolitan area.

Samples showed high levels of bullets, cadmium and arsenic – including one primary school that had 1760 times the American level of bullet dust in window sills.

Nacional emissions reports to the federal government show that the company is emitting the same heavy metals in the air.

Environmental organizers from the Federal Agency responsible for environmental and enforcement inspection, known for its shortcomings, brucered, arrived at the factory on Friday. The closure was announced on Saturday, when Profepa said in a statement that the factory had no permission for 15 pieces of equipment that controls emissions in the air. She said that her search was “as a result of the information announced through a journalistic investigation.”

A team of the Environmental Agency in the Mexican Nuwevo Leon state visited the factory on Thursday.

During the visit, officials found evidence of “shortcomings in emissions systems” and dust from the factory in the soil, the agency said in a press release. He ordered the closure of “as a precautionary measure”.

Zinc Nacional did not answer questions from Guardian and Quinto Elemento Lab, a group of non -profit reports, about closing and other reactions in Monterrey for study results. In a joint press statement with the correspondents after the initial closure of Franin, the company said: “Supervision by the federal and state authorities, as well as various independent audits conducted by customers, suppliers and international exporters, shows the compliance of NACIONAL of applied regulations and the implementation of international standards according to which.”

He said: “In the event that the areas of improvement in our operations are identified, we will make the necessary adjustments to enhance the conditions of work safety for employees, collaborators and neighboring societies.

The investigation of Guardian and Quinto Elemento LAB was prominent in the local and national press, where they generated stories on the first pages in a major regional newspaper, El Norte, over the past four days.

The director of regional nursery schools – which included one school, called for Soto Gamenies high levels of arsenic – to achieve government health.

Residents of the municipality of San Nicholas de Los Jarza, the municipality of Monterey, where the factory is organizing a campaign to collect a signature to obtain a complaint about pollution.

“The goal is to simply stop pollution because the lungs and health of the residents of San Nicholas and those in the surrounding areas are not for sale,” said Roberto Shafaria, a neighbor who lives near the factory and helps to organize the neighbors. He said that a peaceful protest was scheduled on Friday, January 24.

“We are not a garbage dump for the United States or anyone else.”

Susanna de la Tori Zavala, the mother of two children, joined a school next to the Zinc Nacional Factory, that the company invited parents to visit the facility to take a tour and meet on Thursday. But she said that the company provided a little concrete information.

“No one has appeared to us. Tori Zavala said:” This is not true, everything is fine. “We need certainty and transparency – we need additional studies.”

• Update, January 24, 2025: While Profepa initially announced that it closed the entire zinc plant, it now states that the closure was partial, which affects 15 unauthorized pieces of equipment that controls emissions in the atmosphere.