Mexico factory that imports US toxic waste to relocate after Guardian report

Zinc Nacional will move ‘most polluting’ operations after joint investigation found heavy-metals pollution in area

A factory processing US hazardous waste in Mexico has promised to relocate what authorities call its “most polluting” operations following a Guardian investigation .

The plant in the Monterrey metropolitan area recycles toxic steel dust sent by the US steel industry and recovers zinc, according to that reporting, which was produced in partnership with Quinto Elemento Lab, a Mexico investigative journalism unit. It revealed evidence of heavy-metals pollution in the surrounding neighborhoods.

The factory, Zinc Nacional, has since been contending with inspections and threats of closures by environmental regulators, court actions and media scrutiny.

Neighbors have held repeated demonstrations outside the plant, carrying signs with slogans such as “Take your mess to the US” and “Your millions are not worth our lives.”

The company has said that it operates “in compliance with every applicable regulation”, and that by recovering zinc from the byproducts of the steel industry it saves valuable materials from going to landfills.

In a letter to authorities of the state of Nuevo León, the company has now vowed to move its most “intensive” operations away from its current location in the middle of the Monterrey metropolitan area within two years. It did not specify where to, except that it would be “outside the Monterrey metropolitan area” and that the company would maintain “more than one thousand jobs”. It also promised to build a huge enclosure to contain its materials on its existing site, some of which currently sit uncovered, and to plant more trees around its land.

Zinc Nacional did not provide answers to questions from reporters about details of the plan.