Companies Accused of Smuggling Waste

Two Mexican waste disposal companies smuggled 6,500 drums of toxic waste into Mexico from unknown customers in the United States, officials said Wednesday.

The two companies, based in Tijuana and Mexicali, have been shut down permanently and the owner of one arrested, Mexico’s Social Development Ministry said in a statement.

Although it was not clear when the waste was smuggled across the border, the two companies, called Mexaco and Solvex, “intended to get rid of it in a completely illicit way, damaging the ecology and the health of the population in the north of the country,” the ministry said.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been asked to help find out where in the United States the waste, which included acetone, methanol, benzene, chrome and nickel among other toxic substances, came from.

“Industries needing to treat or eliminate their wastes pay an average $500 a drum,” the ministry said. “The two companies involved were being paid $70.”