Section 1: Waste Management Trends

Trend by Waste Management Practice

This figure shows that from 2003 to 2012, production-related waste managed by TRI facilities declined by 4% from 25.09 to 24.04 billion pounds. Changes over this time period by waste management method were:

• Disposal and other releases decreased by 606 million pounds (-13%)
• Combustion for energy recovery decreased by 551 million pounds (-17%) and
• Recycling and treatment held steady with each method changing by less than 1%.

Since 2009, production-related waste managed has generally been increasing as the U.S. economy has improved. Quantities of waste managed in 2013 are similar to what they were six years ago in 2007, with little overall change within any waste management method.

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