Green Chemistry and Engineering Activities

Green chemistry is the design of chemicals, products, and processes that use safer inputs, create more benign outputs, and minimize energy use and the creation of waste. Green engineering considers all stages of the lifecycle of a material, product, process, or system and also aims to reduce pollution, promote sustainability, and minimize risk to human health and the environment without sacrificing economic viability and efficiency. For more information, see TRI Green Chemistry and Green Engineering Reporting.

Advancements in green chemistry and green engineering allow industry to prevent pollution in innovative ways. Implementation of these techniques is required to be reported as source reduction to TRI. Ten of the codes that facilities use to report source reduction to TRI are specific to green chemistry and green engineering activities, although these practices may also fit under other codes. The figure below shows the TRI chemicals with the highest number of green chemistry and green engineering activities reported over the last five years, by sector.

Note: In this figure, the metals (lead, chromium, and copper) are combined with their metal compounds, although metals and compounds of the same metal are listed separately on the TRI list.

• Since 2018, facilities have reported 3,964 green chemistry and engineering activities for 170 TRI chemicals and chemical categories.
  • The chemical manufacturing and fabricated metals manufacturing sectors reported the highest number of activities, reporting 26% and 15% of all green chemistry and engineering activities between 2018 and 2022, respectively.
• Chemical manufacturers used green chemistry and engineering to reduce or eliminate their use of TRI solvent and reagent chemicals, such as methanol and toluene. For example:
  • A basic inorganic chemical manufacturing facility optimized process conditions which reduced the need to use toluene when cleaning equipment. [Click to view facility details in the TRI P2 Search Tool]
• Fabricated metal producers and transportation equipment manufacturers applied green engineering techniques to reduce or eliminate their use of metals. For example:
  • A fabricated metal parts manufacturer purchased new laser cutting machines in 2021, and in 2022 used these machines along with water jet cutting machines which reduced the amount of nickel scrap sent to recycling. [Click to view facility details in the TRI P2 Search Tool]

Additional Resources

Source reduction practices such as green chemistry that prevent or reduce the creation of chemical wastes are preferred to downstream pollution control technologies or waste management activities. These resources have more information on green chemistry and green engineering:

• EPA’s TRI Toxics Tracker: green chemistry and green engineering examples for a specific chemical and/or industry.
• EPA's Green Chemistry program: information about green chemistry and EPA's efforts to facilitate its adoption.
• EPA's Safer Choice program: information about consumer products with lower hazard.
• For more details on the types of green chemistry activities reported to TRI and trends in green chemistry reporting, see The Utility of the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) in Tracking Implementation and Environmental Impact of Industrial Green Chemistry Practices in the United States.
• Solvent Substitutions Reported to TRI: an interactive resource that allows users to find information about specific substitutions for TRI-listed solvents to other solvent chemicals, mixtures, or solvent-free processes.

Previous Next

This page was published in March 2024 and uses the 2022 TRI National Analysis dataset made public in TRI Explorer in October 2023.