2013 TRI National Analysis—Pollution Prevention and Waste Management
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One of the biggest challenges for anyone that produces toxic chemical wastes is to find ways to minimize disposal. The generally followed hierarchy of choices begins with source reduction, and moves down to recycling, then energy recovery, treatment, and finally, disposal or other releases. During the past several years, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has encouraged better waste management using the more preferable methods, and every year the TRI data show us how well we are doing.
During 2013, 25.63 billion pounds of TRI chemicals were managed as wastes, a number that has been climbing since 2009 in line with the economic recovery and about the same as 2007.
According to the TRI data for 2003 through 2013, production-related TRI wastes dropped 4% from 25.0 to 24.04 billion pounds. Looking at the data by waste management method employed, the numbers show:
- 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%.
However, from 2012 to 2013, there was an increase in the quantity of TRI chemicals that were recycled, combusted for energy recovery, treated, or released.
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Looking at TRI data from an industry perspective shows trends in waste management. In 2013, seven industry sectors reported the most TRI production-related wastes managed, something that has changed little since 2003. These sectors are:
- Chemicals,
- Primary metals,
- Metal mining,
- Electric utilities,
- Food/beverage/tobacco,
- Paper, and
- Petroleum.
Although the overall amount of TRI waste managed was down for the 2003 through 2013 period, the report notes that two sectors, metal mining and food/beverage/tobacco, reported increases since 2003. In addition, from 2012 to 2013, four of the seven sectors reported increases in the quantity of waste managed, including:
- Chemical manufacturing, which increased by 856 million pounds (+9% from 2012),
- Metal mining, which increased by 332 million pounds (+22%),
- Electric utilities, which increased by 109 million pounds (+7%), and
- Food/beverages/tobacco, which increased by 98 million pounds (+7%).
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Even as we saw waste quantities increase, 2013 also saw a total of 3,362 facilities, or about 16% of all TRI facilities, reporting the initiation of 10,623 source reduction activities, including the following:
- Good operating practices (37%),
- Inventory control (8%),
- Product modifications (5%),
- Process modifications (22%),
- Spill and leak prevention (12%),
- Cleaning and degreasing (4%),
- Raw materials modifications (10%), and
- Surface preparation and finishing (3%).
The EPA notes that these are 2013 numbers and that facilities may have “ongoing source reduction activities initiated in previous years that are not captured” in the report.
Another enlightening aspect of the TRI data is the waste management by parent company. In 2013, the top 10 parent companies reporting owned from 1 to 127 reporting companies and operate in the following sectors:
- Metal mining,
- Hazardous waste and solvent recovery,
- Multiple sectors, (e.g., pulp and paper, petroleum refining, and chemicals),
- Petroleum refining, and
- Metal smelting.
Of the 10 companies, nine reported implementing one or more new source reduction activities in 2013, with good operating practices, installation of quality monitoring systems, spill and leak prevention, and process modifications being the most commonly reported activities.