Trends in Releases
The following graph shows the latest 10-year trend in total releases (also referred to as “total disposal or other releases”). Many factors can affect the trend in releases over time, including changes in facilities’ production rates, waste management practices, the composition of raw materials, and pollution control technologies.
From 2013 to 2022:
- Total releases of TRI chemicals decreased by 21%.
- Reduced disposal to land from metal mines contributed most to this decline.
- Air releases decreased by 26%, surface water discharges decreased by 9%, on-site land disposal decreased by 23%, and off-site disposal decreased by 8%.
- Reductions in air releases from electric utilities drove the overall decrease in air releases. The number of facilities that reported to TRI declined by 2%.
From 2021 to 2022:
- Total releases increased by 1%, driven by increased land disposal. Releases reported by facilities in the natural gas processing sector drove this increase. Many facilities in this sector reported to TRI for the first time for 2022 due to an expansion in the regulatory requirements for TRI reporting.
This page was published in March 2024 and uses the 2022 TRI National Analysis dataset made public in TRI Explorer in October 2023.