Waste Management by Chemical and Industry
Waste Managed by Chemical
This figure shows the TRI chemicals managed as waste in the greatest quantities from 2013 to 2022.
Note: In this figure, the metals (lead and zinc) are combined with their metal compounds, although metals and compounds of the same metal are listed separately on the TRI list.
From 2013 to 2022:
- Facilities reported waste managed for almost 600 chemicals and chemical categories. The graph above shows the nine chemicals managed as waste in the largest quantities. Together, these chemicals represent 53% of the total waste managed reported to TRI.
- Of the chemicals shown above, facilities reported increased quantities of waste managed for: cumene, dichloromethane (methylene chloride), ethylene, and n-hexane.
- Cumene waste managed during 2022 was almost twenty times higher than the quantity of cumene waste managed during 2013, mostly driven by one facility in the petrochemical manufacturing sector that reported recycling over 3 billion pounds of cumene annually from 2014 to 2022. [Click to view facility details in the TRI P2 Search Tool]
- Dichloromethane waste managed increased by 803 million pounds (44%). Trends in dichloromethane waste management were driven by recycling from two plastics material and resin manufacturing facilities which together reported 95% of all dichloromethane waste managed for 2022.
- Ethylene waste managed increased by 546 million pounds (46%), driven by facilities in the chemical manufacturing sector.
- n-Hexane waste managed increased by 652 million pounds (63%). This was mostly driven by one soybean processing facility which increased its n-hexane recycling by almost 600 million pounds since 2013. [Click to view facility details in the TRI P2 Search Tool]
From 2021 to 2022:
- Quantities of TRI chemical waste managed increased for several chemicals including:
- n-Hexane increased by 129 million pounds (8%).
- Toluene increased by 56 million pounds (4%).
- Lead increased by 41 million pounds (4%).
- Quantities of TRI chemical waste managed decreased for several chemicals including:
- Dichloromethane decreased by 435 million pounds (-14%).
- Ethylene decreased by 149 million pounds (-8%).
- Cumene decreased by 63 million pounds (-2%).
- Quantities of TRI chemical waste managed remained about the same for zinc, methanol, and hydrochloric acid.
Waste Managed by Industry
This figure shows the industry sectors that managed the most TRI chemical waste from 2013 to 2022.
From 2013 to 2022:
- The eight sectors in this chart consistently reported managing the most waste since 2013. The amount of waste managed by these sectors has changed year to year, especially for the chemical manufacturing sector. The chemical manufacturing sector accounted for 44% of all waste managed in 2013 and increased to 54% in 2022.
- Two of the sectors shown in the graph increased their quantities of waste managed:
- Chemical manufacturing increased by 3.8 billion pounds (33%).
- Food manufacturing increased by 777 million pounds (54%).
- The quantity of waste generated in some industries fluctuates considerably from year to year due to changes in production or other factors. For example, quantities of waste managed reported by metal mining facilities can change significantly based on differences in the composition of waste rock.
From 2021 to 2022:
- Industry sectors that reported the greatest changes in waste management quantities were:
- Chemical manufacturing decreased by 875 million pounds (-5%).
- Food manufacturing increased by 157 million pounds (8%).
- Electric utilities decreased by 100 million pounds (-10%).
This page was published in March 2024 and uses the 2022 TRI National Analysis dataset made public in TRI Explorer in October 2023.