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Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Program

Basics of TRI Reporting

TRI Reporting Cycle

TRI Annual Reporting Cycle

JANUARY

  • TRI Program publishes annual TRI Reporting Forms & Instructions (RFI) and updates training modules for reporting facilities.
  • TRI Program releases a new version of the TRI-MEweb reporting application for the current reporting year.

JANUARY - JUNE

  • Facilities prepare and submit TRI forms for the previous calendar year.

JULY

  • July 1: Deadline for facilities that meet TRI reporting requirements to submit TRI forms for toxic chemical disposal or other releases that occurred during the previous calendar year. (For example, TRI forms covering the 2010 calendar year are due to EPA by July 1, 2011.)
  • The preliminary dataset for the recently-concluded reporting year is made available in downloadable data files on the TRI Preliminary Dataset webpage and in TRI Explorer and Envirofacts.

AUGUST - SEPTEMBER

  • The preliminary dataset is updated as additional facility reports are processed by the TRI Data Processing Center.
    (This includes paper submissions, revisions, and withdrawals collected and processed after July 1.)
  • EPA begins conducting its analyses of the most recent TRI data, which will be published in the TRI National Analysis.

DECEMBER

  • EPA releases the TRI National Analysis, an in-depth report on the previous calendar year's TRI data.

Ongoing Activities

  • Facilities may submit revisions or withdrawals for previous years' data.
  • The TRI Program conducts periodic data quality checks and provides analytical support for enforcement efforts led by EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA).
  • Preparations continue for the next reporting cycle.

TRI Reporting Criteria

A facility must report to TRI if it:

  • Is in a specific industrial sector (e.g., manufacturing, mining, electric power generation),
  • Employs 10 or more full-time equivalent employees, and
  • Manufactures or processes >25,000 lbs. of a TRI-listed chemical or otherwise uses >10,000 lbs. of a listed chemical in a given year.

Additionally:

    Persistent, Bioaccumulative, Toxic chemicals (PBTs) have lower reporting thresholds:
    • >100 lbs. of Aldrin, Lead, Lead Compounds, Methoxychlor, PACs, Pendimethalin, Tetrabromobisphenol A, Trifluralin
    • >10 lbs. of Benzo(g,h,i)perylene, Chlordane, Heptachlor, Hexachlorobenzene, Isodrin, Mercury, Mercury Compounds, Octachlorostyrene, Pentachlorobenzene, PCBs, Toxaphene
    • >0.1 grams of Dioxin and Dioxin-like Compounds

If a facility meets these criteria, it must:

  • Submit a TRI Form R (long form) or Form A (short form) for each TRI-listed chemical it manufactures, processes, or otherwise uses in quantities above the reporting threshold.
  • Submit each TRI form to both EPA and the State in which the facility is located.

A facility is eligible to submit a Form A if:

  • The chemical being reported is NOT a PBT chemical;
  • The chemical has not been manufactured, processed, or otherwise used in excess of 1,000,000 lbs.; and
  • The total annual waste management (i.e., releases including disposal, recycling, energy recovery, and treatment)
    of the chemical does not exceed 500 lbs.

Please note that these are only general criteria. For more specific guidance on what chemicals and activities are subject to TRI reporting requirements, visit the Guidance Documents webpage.

Methods of Reporting

There are two methods available to regulated facilities for submitting TRI data to EPA:

    1. The majority of facilities submit TRI reports via TRI-MEweb, EPA's online TRI reporting application.
    2. Facilities are encouraged to use the fillable/printable TRI forms if they need to submit their forms in hard copy.

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