The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released on March 3 its 2020 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) National Analysis, which shows environmental releases of TRI chemicals by facilities covered by the program declined by 10 percent between 2019 to 2020.
The 2020 TRI National Analysis summarizes TRI chemical waste management activities. More than 21,000 facilities reported on the more than 800 chemicals they released into the environment or otherwise managed as waste. The EPA, states, and tribes receive TRI data from facilities in industry sectors such as manufacturing, mining, electric utilities, and commercial hazardous waste management.
The 2020 analysis is the first to feature reporting on the 172 per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) added to TRI by the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Facilities reported managing 800,000 pounds of these chemicals in 2020, but, of that, only around 9000 pounds were reported as releases.
Most of the production-related PFAS waste was reported by hazardous waste management facilities or chemical manufacturers, and most releases of PFAS were reported by the chemical manufacturing sector.
The EPA is working to better understand the seemingly limited scope of PFAS reporting including a review of potential producers and recipients of PFAS waste and facilities with potential reporting errors, as well as those that were expected to report but did not.
The EPA is also planning to enhance PFAS reporting under the TRI by proposing a rulemaking this summer that would remove the eligibility of the de minimis exemption for PFAS. Because PFAS are used at low concentrations in many products, the elimination of the de minimis exemption will result in a more complete picture of the releases and other waste management quantities for these chemicals.
View the 2020 TRI National Analysis.
NGWA has long been an industry leader in providing PFAS research, education, and resources to the public and scientific communities. In 2017, NGWA published Groundwater and PFAS: State of Knowledge and Practice, which was one of the first PFAS guidance documents to be released. It can be found at NGWA.org/PFAS, which is a complete resource center about the groundwater contaminants featuring a FAQs document, a top-10 facts sheet, a homeowner checklist, and more.
NGWA is also once again hosting a conference on this topic, Fate of PFAS: From Groundwater to Tap Water, June 21-22, 2022 in Westerville, Ohio.