Section 1: Chemical Manufacturing

Waste Management by the Chemical Manufacturing Sector

This figure shows that production-related waste managed by the chemical manufacturing sector decreased by 5% from 2003 to 2013, while production (represented by the black line as reported by the Federal Reserve Board Industrial Production Index) fluctuated but changed little overall. In 2013, 5% of the sector’s waste was released, while the rest was managed through treatment, energy recovery, and recycling. Quantities of waste released, treated, or used in energy recovery have decreased since 2003, while the quantity of waste recycled has increased. From 2012 to 2013, production-related waste managed increased by 9%, primarily due to an increase in treatment and recycling.

Although the chemical manufacturing sector has consistently been the sector with the most production-related waste managed, 21% of facilities in the sector initiated source reduction activities in 2013 to reduce their toxic chemical use and waste generation. This is the greatest number of facilities reporting source reduction in any sector. The most commonly reported category of source reduction activities for the sector was good operating practices, which includes improving maintenance scheduling, record keeping, and procedures and changing production schedules to minimize equipment and feedstock changes. For example, one facility reported adjusting its production schedule to increase the batch size of zinc products, which reduced the frequency of vessel cleanouts. Other common source reduction activities in the chemical manufacturing sector include process modifications and spill and leak prevention. TRI’s Pollution Prevention Search Tool can help you learn more about pollution prevention opportunities in this sector.

This page was published in January 2015 and uses the 2013 TRI National Analysis dataset made public in TRI Explorer in October 2014.