Waste Management by Chemical and Industry
Waste Managed by Chemical
This figure shows the TRI chemicals managed as waste in the greatest quantities from 2014 to 2023.
Note: 1) 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 chemical list. 2) Note: This chart excludes natural gas processing facilities which were not required to report to TRI prior to 2022.
From 2014 to 2023:
- Facilities reported managing almost 600 TRI-listed chemicals as waste. The graph above shows the nine chemicals managed as waste in the largest quantities. Together, these chemicals represent 65% of the waste reported to TRI for 2023. Waste management quantities for all other reported chemicals are included in the graph as “All Others”.
- Of the chemicals shown above, waste managed increased for: n-hexane, dichloromethane (methylene chloride), and ethylene.
- n-Hexane waste managed increased largely due to soybean processing facilities that reported recycling large quantities of n-hexane on site in recent years.
- Dichloromethane waste managed: 972 million pound increase (+56%), driven by recycling from two plastics material and resin manufacturing facilities. [Click to view details: Facility 1, Facility 2]
- Ethylene waste managed: 108 million pound increase (+7%).
From 2022 to 2023:
- The largest increases in waste managed were for n-hexane and lead.
- n-Hexane: 4.6 billion pound increase (+111%), driven by increased recycling reported by two soybean processing facilities that accounted for almost half of all n-hexane waste managed in 2023. [Click to view details: Facility 1, Facility 2]
- Lead: 179 million pound increase (+18%), driven by increased releases to land from the metal mining sector. See the Lead profile for more information.
- Waste managed decreased for cumene, toluene, ethylene, methanol, and ammonia. The largest decrease was in cumene waste managed, which decreased by 353 million pounds (-11%) due to decreased recycling from the chemical manufacturing sector.
Waste Managed by Industry
This figure shows the industry sectors that managed the most TRI chemical waste from 2014 to 2023.
Note: This chart excludes natural gas processing facilities which were not required to report to TRI prior to 2022.
From 2014 to 2023:
- The eight industry sectors in this chart consistently reported managing the most waste from 2014-2023.
- Of the eight sectors shown, food manufacturing was the only sector that reported an increase in the quantity of waste managed. This increase was driven by soybean processing facilities that reported large quantities of n-hexane recycling in recent years.
- Quantities of waste managed decreased in the following sectors:
- Electric utilities: 941 million pound decrease (-53%). See the electric utilities profile.
- Petroleum products manufacturing: 906 million pound decrease (-39%).
- Primary metals: 534 million pound decrease (-19%).
- Paper manufacturing: 311 million pound decrease (-22%).
- Metal mining: 306 million pound decrease (-16%).
- The quantity of waste managed by the chemical manufacturing and hazardous waste management sectors fluctuated from year to year, with minimal change overall.
From 2022 to 2023:
- Industry sectors that reported the greatest changes in waste management quantities were:
- Food manufacturing: 4.6 billion pound increase (+98%), driven by two soybean manufacturing facilities which together reported a 4.2-billion-pound increase in waste managed, virtually all of which was recycled on-site.1
- Chemical manufacturing: 1.0 billion pound decrease (-7%).
- Electric utilities: 118 million pound decrease (-12%).
1 This change reflects a shift in how these facilities classify certain wastes as recycled, rather than a change in their operations.
This page was published in August 2025 and uses the 2023 TRI National Analysis dataset made public in TRI Explorer in October 2024.