Chemical Manufacturing Waste Management Trend

The following graph shows the quantities of TRI chemical waste managed through recycling, energy recovery, treatment, and disposal or other releases by the chemical manufacturing sector. For more details on quantities released, toggle to the “Releases only” graph.

From 2014 to 2023:

• Waste managed from chemical manufacturing: 416 million pound decrease (-3%).
  • The decrease in waste managed since 2018 is largely due to a reduction in recycling over this time period.
• Quantities of TRI chemicals recycled, released, and combusted for energy recovery all decreased, while the quantities of TRI chemicals treated increased slightly.

From 2022 to 2023:

• Waste managed: More than 1 billion pound decrease (-7%).
• In 2023, facilities in this sector released 3% of their waste into the environment and managed the other 97% through treatment, energy recovery, and recycling.

The following graph shows the 10-year trend in quantities of TRI chemicals released by facilities in the chemical manufacturing sector.

From 2014 to 2023:

• Releases from chemical manufacturing: 110 million pound decrease (-21%), driven by a 73-million-pound decrease in on-site land releases.
  • The decrease was primarily due to a reduction in releases from the basic chemicals manufacturing sector (102 million pound decrease).
• It is important to consider how the economy influences chemical releases at facilities. This figure includes the trend in the manufacturing sectors’ value added (represented by the black line, as reported by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Value Added by Industry).
  • Sector’s value added: 27% increase. Releases decreased even as the sector’s economic activity increased.
• Quantities of on-site releases to all media decreased, as did off-site disposal.

From 2022 to 2023:

• Releases: 48 million pound decrease (-10%), mostly driven by decreases in releases to land (26 million pounds).

This chart shows the chemical manufacturing sector’s releases by subsector.

Releases in the chemical manufacturing subsectors:

• For 2023, one-third (1,113 facilities) of the 3,445 chemical manufacturing facilities were in the basic chemicals manufacturing subsector, which accounted for almost half (47%) of the chemical manufacturing sector’s releases.
• Also for 2023, the pesticides and fertilizers sector accounted for 27% of the chemical manufacturing sector’s releases but represented only 7% of the sector’s facilities.