Chemical Manufacturing Releases Trend in the 2015 TRI National Analysis
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The following graph shows the annual quantities of toxic chemical released by the chemical manufacturing industry.
From 2005 to 2015:
- Total releases by the chemical manufacturing sector decreased by 8%. This was primarily due to a reduction in air emissions.
- Water releases also declined, while on-site releases to land and off-site disposal increased.
From 2014 to 2015:
- Total releases decreased by 6.7 million pounds (1.3%).
- In 2015, the sector reported more air releases than any other sector, accounting for 24% of all TRI air emissions.
Source Reduction in the Chemical Manufacturing Sector:
Although chemical manufacturing has consistently been the sector with the most production-related waste managed, more than 500 facilities in the sector initiated source reduction activities in 2015 to reduce their toxic chemical use and waste generation. The most commonly reported categories of source reduction activities were good operating practices and spill and leak prevention. For example, one facility refrigerates acetaldehyde before use in order to reduce its potential to evaporate into the air. TRI’s Pollution Prevention Search Tool can help you learn more about pollution prevention opportunities in this sector.
For more information on how this sector and others can choose safer chemicals, visit EPA’s Safer Choice Program pages for Alternatives Assessments and the Safer Choice Ingredients List.
This page was published in January 2017 and uses the 2015 TRI National Analysis dataset made public in TRI Explorer in October 2016.