The Solid Waste Bureau promotes and works to ensure solid waste management practices that improve and protect public health and New Mexico’s air, land, and water.
The Bureau does this through:
- Regulating solid waste facilities and operations, including commercial haulers, landfills, transfer stations, collection centers, recycling and composting facilities, infectious waste processing facilities, scrap tire generators, scrap tire haulers, tire recycling facilities and construction projects using more than 100 scrap tires.
- Conducting outreach and education to provide regulated facilities with the knowledge necessary to run compliant operations.
- Issuing permits to establish effective management and monitoring procedures to ensure that regulated facilities do not adversely affect human health, welfare, or the environment
- Taking enforcement action to compel compliance with permits and regulatory requirements and to discourage future acts of noncompliance.
The Bureau’s activities are guided by the New Mexico Solid Waste Act; Solid Waste Rules; Recycling and Illegal Dumping Act; Recycling, Illegal Dumping, and Scrap Tire Management Rules; and other state and federal rules and policies.