ACC: US toxic chemical releases fall 75% since 1988

12 May 2005 20:10  [Source: ICIS news]

WASHINGTON (CNI)--Chemical manufacturers have reduced environmental releases by 75% since the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began tracking emissions under the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) in 1988, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) said Thursday.

 

During the same period, the industry increased production of chemical products by almost 29%, according to the ACC.US industries released a combined 4.44bn pounds of toxic chemicals into the environment in 2003 (the latest year for which TRI figures are available), more than a 6% decrease from the 4.74bn pounds released in 2002.

 

The bulk of the decline came from the metal mining sector, where emissions fell 18% to 1.52bn pounds. Chemical manufacturing registered the second largest decline, with emissions falling 3% to 564m pounds.

 

“This is tremendous news for the environment, and a demonstration of what the business of chemistry is doing to protect and improve it,” said ACC president Tom Reilly.

 

 He added: “ACC members are committed to building on this dramatic, downward trend in emissions and will continue to keep the public aware of industry and individual company progress” online at www.ResponsibleCare-US.com.

 

 Although overall emissions continued on a downward trend, releases of three chemicals that persist in the environment - polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), mercury and dioxin - were up.EPA said about 23,000 facilities provided information on 650 chemicals for the 2003 TRI.

By: Glenn Hess
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