Section 2: Waste Management by Industry Sector

Economic Trend with Production-Related Waste for the Manufacturing Sector

It is also important to consider the influence that production and the economy have on chemical waste generation. The figure above illustrates how changes in production levels at TRI facilities may influence production-related waste. It presents the trend in production-related waste managed by the manufacturing sector and the trend in the manufacturing sector’s value added (as shown by the solid line). “Value added” from the Bureau of Economic Analysis is used as a proxy for production levels for the manufacturing sector. Value added measures the contribution of manufacturing to the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which represents the total value of goods and services produced annually in the United States. While not all of the facilities that report to TRI are in the manufacturing sector, most are (89% in 2013). The manufacturing sector includes sectors such as chemical manufacturing, metals processing, and pulp and paper manufacturing, but excludes mining, electric utilities, and waste management facilities. In 2013, TRI manufacturing facilities accounted for 80% of the production-related waste managed.

The solid line in the figure shows that value added by the manufacturing sector (adjusted for inflation) decreased by 4% from 2003 to 2013, while production-related waste managed by the manufacturing sector decreased by 8%. This graph demonstrates that, because waste is decreasing faster than production, factors other than production were also contributing to the reductions in releases. Other factors such as source reduction and pollution prevention (P2) practices are discussed in the Source Reduction/Pollution Prevention section.

More information on production trends for individual sectors, including the electric utility and metal mining sectors, which are not included in the manufacturing sector, can be found in the industry sector profiles.

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