Toxics Release Inventory

The database is available from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and contains information reported annually by some industry groups as well as federal facilities.

Each year, companies across a wide range of industries (including chemical manufacturing, metal mining, coal- or oil-burning electric utilities, and other industries) that manufacture, process, or otherwise use more than a certain amount of a listed chemical must report it to the TRI.

[1] The inventory was first proposed in a 1985 New York Times op-ed piece written by David Sarokin and Warren Muir, researchers for an environmental group, Inform, Inc.[2] Congress established TRI under Section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA), and later expanded it in the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 (PPA).

[5] Facilities are required to report to the TRI if they meet all of the following requirements: If certain criteria are met, the facility may be allowed to complete a "Form A" certification statement instead of the more detailed "Form R." Form A may only be used for chemicals that are not considered chemicals of special concern, for which amounts manufactured, processed, or otherwise used at the facility do not exceed 1 million pounds, and which do not exceed 500 pounds of annual reportable amount (i.e., total quantity released/disposed of, treated, recycled, and combusted for energy recovery) in the calendar year.

The PPA added requirements for facilities to report information on quantities of production-related waste managed on- and off-site through recycling, combustion for energy recovery, treatment, and disposal of other releases, and to report information on quantities of waste managed due to one-time or non-production-related events.