Toxics Release Inventory Shows Need For Pollution Prevention

(18 June, 1998 — Washington) The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) today challenged industries which use or release toxic chemicals to make pollution prevention (i.e., avoiding the creation of waste) a standard business practice. Today’s announcement of 1996 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows that while the overall release of toxins has decreased, likely due to “end of pipe” pollution controls, companies still have not made significant efforts to avoid producing unnecessary waste in the first place. For instance, many companies have relied upon inefficient and sometimes dirty recycling strategies that have not reduced the generation of waste.

“The EPA is moving in the right direction by focusing more on production-related waste, rather than just releases and transfers. Industrial toxic waste is an environmental problem and it is profit gone down the drain. The production-related waste numbers show that there is vast potential for US manufacturers to become cleaner and more efficient,” said Kevin Mills, director of EDF’s Pollution Prevention Alliance.

“Cleaner manufacturing may be achieved by redesigning products and processes to improve performance. EPA’s effort to focus on specific industry sectors also could help in identifying such opportunities,” said Lois Epstein, an EDF senior engineer.

“The Toxics Release Inventory doesn’t tell the whole story, however. To put pollution prevention first, right-to-know programs must be expanded to track toxins in manufactured products, within manufacturing processes, and in upstream activities such as material processing and transportation,” said Mills. H.R. 1636 and S. 769, the Children’s Environmental Protection and Right to Know Act, would extend the public’s right-to-know about toxic pollution by providing greater insights into these activities and provide an important incentive for companies to further reduce pollution

The 1996 TRI data will shortly be available through EDF’s free internet Chemical Scorecard at www.scorecard.org (users can register to be notified when the 1996 data are available). Scorecard currently provides TRI data through 1995. In addition to raw pounds of TRI releases, Scorecard provides information on toxicity-weighted releases, allowing users to identify priorities for action. Scorecard also lets users rank states, counties, zip codes and facilities by 40 different criteria, and enables users to send faxes to top-ranked polluters. It also provides information on known and suspected health effects of TRI chemicals, and 5000 additional chemicals. Since its launch on April 15, 1998, Scorecard has received more than 10 million hits.