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The Azcapotzalco Transfer Station and Sorting Plant, the largest and most modern in Latin America, has opened its doors in Mexico City (CDMX). With this facility, the city government is the first in the country to move towards a correct treatment of urban waste based on a circular economy concept – one of the priority objectives of the current administration.
STADLER supplied the cutting-edge technology to achieve this milestone. Natalya Duarte, Sales Director for Mexico at STADLER, says: "We would like to thank Mexico City for allowing us to give our contribution and take part in the great challenge of reducing waste in Mexico City, one of the most populated megacities in the world, where more than 12,000 tons of waste are generated every day.” The city government thus lays the groundwork for fulfilling its environmental responsibility, recognising the importance of complying with international agreements and the need to apply circular economy principles.
It is the country’s first government-owned automated plant for the separation and treatment of municipal solid waste.. The 11,000 m2 facility sorts paper, cardboard, multilayer packaging, PET and HDPE, plastic bags and film, aluminum cans, metallized bags, textiles, glass and other metals. The plant operates in conjunction with a transfer station to process around 1,000 tons per day of waste from the municipalities of Cuauhtémoc, Gustavo A. Madero, Miguel Hidalgo and Azcapotzalco, and will be able to receive up to 1,400 tonnes of waste per day. Its operation will generate 404 jobs.
The facility is run by Pro Ambiente, a subsidiary of CEMEX, which has more than 25 years of experience in waste management and in operating plants for the selection and recovery of waste-derived fuels.
Proud to have been selected to participate in this exciting step towards a sustainable future, Natalya Duarte says that this plant is special for several reasons: "The innovative sorting technology allows us to move from a more manual sorting process to an automatic process that ensures higher recovery efficiency and material purity. This results in recyclable materials of higher value. The recycling process is also professionalized and industrialized, striking the right balance between technology and manual quality control. In addition, the plant operates under criteria of efficiency and sustainability that are completely new in this country, and it sees technological innovation as a fundamental tool in the care of the environment."
