Sector Profiles
This section examines how industry sectors manage Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) chemical waste. Looking at data from individual sectors can highlight improvements in environmental performance and opportunities for better waste management in individual sectors.
Industries subject to TRI reporting requirements vary substantially in size, scope, and business type. As a result, the amounts and types of chemicals managed as waste by facilities across industrial sectors often differ. For facilities in the same sector, however, the processes, products, and regulatory requirements are often similar, resulting in similar use and handling of TRI chemicals.
This section presents trends in key sectors’ waste managedThe sum of all non-accidental chemical waste generated at a facility. It is the sum of on-site environmental releases (minus quantities from non-routine, one-time events), on-site waste management (recycling, treatment, and combustion for energy recovery), and off-site transfers for disposal, treatment, recycling or energy recovery., including TRI chemical releasesAny spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping, or disposing into the environment (including the abandonment or discarding of barrels, containers, and other closed receptacles) of any toxic chemical. [42 U.S.C. §11049 (8)] [40 CFR § 372.3] into the environment. For analytical purposes, the TRI Program has combined the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes at the 3- and 4-digit levels, creating 30 industry sector categories. To learn more about which business activities are subject to TRI reporting requirements, see this list of covered NAICS codes.
The following pie chart shows the total quantities of TRI chemical waste managed through recycling, energy recovery, treatment, and disposal or other release by sector. For more details on quantities released, toggle to the “Releases Only” figure.
Seven industry sectors reported 90% of the TRI waste managed in 2023. Most of this waste originated from the chemical manufacturing sector (42%) and the food manufacturing sector (27%). See the Chemical Manufacturing Sector Profile for more information on this sector.
The following pie chart shows the industry sectors that reported the most releases for 2023.
As in previous years, facilities in the metal mining sector reported more releases than any other sector for 2023. Metal mining sector releases primarily consisted of metals disposed of on site to land.
For more details on how the amounts and proportions of TRI chemicals managed as waste have changed over time, see the waste managed by industry trend graph.
For more information on the breakdown of these releases by environmental medium, see air releases by industry, water releases by industry, and land disposal by industry.
As with any dataset, there are multiple factors to consider when using the TRI data. Find a summary of key factors associated with data used in the National Analysis in the Introduction. For more information see Factors to Consider When Using Toxics Release Inventory Data.
This page was published in August 2025 and uses the 2023 TRI National Analysis dataset made public in TRI Explorer in October 2024.