This report supports the implementation of an existing EPA and the Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC) Cooperative Agreement that has been integrated into an Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) partnership, addressing e-waste management that incorporates the informal sector in the border region of Baja California.
The Mexicali E-Waste Project was launched in Mexicali in 2014. It aims to improve the management of e-waste by increasing public awareness about the environmental and public health hazards that can be attributed to improper e-waste management; training informal e-waste workers; supporting the growth of existing, small e-waste businesses; and potentially creating a public-private entity to make the current system more effective and comprehensive.
The project’s goal is to boost socioeconomic, health, and environmental benefits to populations in Mexicali and around the US/Mexico border. The direct beneficiaries of the project are the informal e-waste workers (and their families) that use unsafe methods to extract valuable material from e-waste and receive little revenue due to ineffective methods for extraction. The indirect beneficiaries are the inhabitants in and around Mexicali that will benefit from cleaner air due to reduced burning of e-waste in the area and safer drinking water because of minimized illegal dumping and leaching of toxins into waterways.