UNIVERSIDAD AUTÓNOMA DE NUEVO LEÓN
SECRETARÍA DE SUSTENTABILIDAD
Special management waste (SMR)
Special Management Waste (SMR) is defined in the General Law for the Prevention and Comprehensive Management of Waste (LGPGIR) such as those generated in production processes, which do not meet the characteristics to be considered dangerous or as municipal solid waste, or which are produced by large generators of urban solid waste.
Waste electrical and electronic equipment
Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) are devices that depend on electric currents and electromagnetic fields for them to function correctly, and that, when discarded or disposed of by the owner or user, become Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). , also known as e-waste or Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) for its acronym in English. One of the main characteristics of electrical and electronic devices is that they contain substances (lead, cadmium, mercury, chromium and persistent organic compounds) that, due to their properties, can cause toxic effects on health and the environment if they are not handled properly.
They also have substances with a high economic value (palladium, gold, silver, copper, ruthenium, indium, etc.) that can be recycled and reincorporated as raw materials for new products. A group of dangerous substances contained in WEEE are halogenated flame retardants, such as polybrominated biphenyls (PBB), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). These compounds were incorporated into the Stockholm Convention (EC) in 2009, in which Mexico and 180 other countries are part of it.
Electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) are classified according to the above as RME, for which there are different management plans for their appropriate treatment once their useful life ends.
According to the Report on the Situation of the Environment in Mexico 2018, in 2013 approximately 1.3 million tons of WEEE were collected in Mexico and from 2013 to 2017 2.17 million cellular devices have been collected, which represented a total of 325,095 tons of cellular equipment, plus 633,701 tons of accessories such as chargers, external batteries, memories, cables, among others.
One of the main characteristics of electrical and electronic devices is that they contain substances such as lead, cadmium, mercury, chromium and persistent organic compounds, which due to their properties can cause toxic effects on health and the environment if they are not handled properly. They also have substances with a high economic value such as palladium, gold, silver, copper, ruthenium and indium, which can be recycled and reincorporated as raw material for new products.
Given the digital age we are currently experiencing, the amount of waste from electrical and electronic devices generated has increased, which can be harmful to the environment and human health if not disposed of properly. With the aim of avoiding this problem, the UANL through the Sustainability Secretariat (SS) carried out 2 electronic recycling campaigns in June and October 2022 in which 35.70 tons of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) were collected.
The agencies that participated in both electronic recycling campaigns as collection centers were:
- High School No. 1
- High School No. 2
- High School No. 4
- High School No. 7
- High School No. 8
- High School No. 15
- High School No. 16
- High School No. 19
- High School No. 23
- High School No. 25
- Bilingual Education Research and Development Center
- “Álvaro Obregón” Industrial and Technical Preparatory School
- Faculty of Public Health and Nutrition
- Faculty of veterinary medicine and zootechnics
- Faculty of Dentistry
- Tigres Sports Center
- Research Center for Sustainable Development
The waste, once collected by a service provider authorized by the state government, is taken to collection centers where it is classified into groups and separated into its different components. For example, plastic is taken to local recyclers to be incorporated as raw material for the production of new products such as toys and pallets; The copper and aluminum are sent to a national foundry for the production of electric cables, copper pipes, aluminum rolls, etc. Finally, the electronic cards and power supplies are sent to foreign companies where the precious metals are Other materials are recovered to be incorporated into other production cycles for the production of cell phones, car views, fans, feathers, etc. Given the above, the waste generated at the UANL follows a circular economy model like shown in the next figure:
The economic amount collected from the commercialization of the materials collected in the electronic recycling campaigns is used to grant the Award for best sustainability project where registered students, professors and administrative staff who are working at the UANL can participate. The call is made annually. The project must highlight the importance in some of the areas of sustainability: social, economic or environmental and its impact on the university community. In 2022, the winner of the award was High School No. 16 with the project “Implementation of a sustainable strategy for the maintenance of the green areas of High School No. 16”. This award was presented by the Rector of our highest educational institution Dr. in Med. Santos Guzmán López to the MEC Martín Muñiz Zamarrón Director of the department and the winning team, this during the 12th Meeting of Liaisons for Sustainability held In the month of june.
Waste fats and oils from cafeterias
One of the main causes of contamination of surface and groundwater is the uncontrolled discharge of waste generated in the preparation of food, such as vegetable and/or animal oils and fats, since they are capable of creating a layer on the surface of the water. which hinders the passage of oxygen and can kill living beings in rivers, canals or seas. It is estimated that one liter of used oil can contaminate 1,000 to 10,000 L of water, producing blockages, bad odors, and the proliferation of pests in drainage and/or sewage systems, in addition to also damaging the soil.
The UANL promotes a program for the collection and disposal of vegetable oil generated in the cafeterias that operate within the campuses with a specialized company that has the corresponding authorizations.
Grease and oil trap
A grease trap is a special device made of stainless steel that is used to separate solid waste and grease that goes down the washing and food processing tanks in restaurants, hotels, fast food businesses, production plants and in different applications and industrial processes.
How does the trap work?
The trap retains the suspended solids by sedimentation and the fatty material by flotation. The trap has two compartments, both separated by a stainless steel grate responsible for preventing solids from passing through. In the largest compartment, where the liquids with dissolved solids arrive, the fat is separated as it is lighter than water. The “clean” water will come out of the other compartment.
Having a grease and oil trap allows you to avoid consequences such as:
- Pipe blockage
- Maintenance cost overruns
- Harm to public health
- Fire risk
- Pollution of the environment, especially water
This advance in the UANL cafeterias serves to comply with the provisions of the Mexican Official Standards NOM-002-ECOL-1996 “Maximum permissible contaminant limits in wastewater discharges to urban or municipal sewage systems” and NOM- 251-SSA1-2009 “Hygiene practices for the processing of food, beverages or food supplements.”
The treatment of organic waste is becoming more important every day given the size of the problem it represents not only due to the increase in volumes generated but also due to the use of chemical fertilizers which, in addition to contaminating the environment and having a higher cost, represent a risk to the health of the people who handle them and to the consumers of the products.
The Faculty of Agronomy of the UANL carries out a project for the use and exploitation of livestock waste (manure) and the use of prunings (garden waste) from the Marín campus, which consists of treating said waste using worms where they are obtained. humus or fertilizer (vermicompost) and a leachate rich in essential nutrients (fulvic acids) which are used to fertilize the nursery, experimental crops and gardens on the campus.
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