TRI and Your Community

What is the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Program

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) is an EPA information resource that can help you understand chemical pollution and its potential effects in your community. TRI might be of interest to you because it contains information on the types and quantities of toxic chemicals used by different kinds of industrial facilities in your community. It shows how much of each chemical is handled at the facility, and how much is released to the air, water or land. A "release" of a chemical means that it is emitted to the air or water, or placed in some type of land disposal.

TRI data come from the facilities themselves and are sent to EPA once a year. EPA reviews the information and makes it available to the public. Anyone can view or obtain TRI data and related information free of charge by going to the TRI Data and Tools webpage.

Is my health at risk because of toxic chemicals in my community?

Your individual risk is determined by a number of factors, such as how much of a chemical is released (the quantity), whether it's released to the air, water or land, how much exposure you have to the chemical and how the chemical interacts with your body. TRI contains information on what chemicals are released, release quantities and how much was released to air, water and land.

If you are interested in estimating immediate or long-term risks in your community, you will need to combine TRI with other information, such as the toxicity of the chemical and the chemical's fate and transport. Please see the "How can I find more information?" section at the bottom of this page to learn about some resources that can help you do this. It is important to note that EPA and other government agencies implement environmental regulations to reduce potential risks.

Understanding Risk

In some circumstances, chemicals can pose risks to human health and the environment. It is useful to think about whether a particular risk is "significant", or worthy of concern relative to other risks. In general, industrial facilities that are operating in compliance with environmental regulations have controls in place that reduce releases of toxic chemicals and the potential risks they might pose to human health and the environment.

To read more about risk and its assessment and management, go to EPA's risk assessment portal.

How can I find out more about the potential chemical risks in my community?

Determining whether the specific chemicals released in your community may pose a risk to you or others is very complex. More information about specific toxic chemicals and the effects of exposure on human health can be found in the ToxFaqs section of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)'s Toxic Substances Portal. EPA also periodically presents information on risks posed by air pollution in the National Air Toxics Assessment (NATA). Many of the industrial facilities that provide data to the TRI are included in the NATA.

How is EPA ensuring that facilities with toxic chemicals don't pose significant risks to my community?

EPA, together with state and tribal governments, implements a number of laws that control emissions of toxic chemicals to the air, land and water. Regulations written under these laws often require facilities to use approved control technologies and methods to reduce or eliminate releases and may tell facilities how to store or dispose of chemicals in wastes.

To help further reduce potential risks, EPA encourages facilities to prevent or reduce pollution at the source and to promote recycling whenever possible. TRI data can give you insights into the source reduction and treatment activities undertaken by facilities.

What can I do if I think there's a problem at a facility?

If you believe a facility may not be in compliance with existing environmental regulations, you can report this information to EPA so it can be investigated and action can be taken as appropriate. EPA, states and tribes regularly monitor each facility's compliance with all environmental regulations. Anyone can examine the compliance records for nearby facilities by going to the EPA's Enforcement and Compliance History Online website.

TRI data also include public contact information about reporting facilities. Company representatives can answer questions about the data they have provided to EPA. Contact information is found in Section 4.4 of each TRI Reporting Form R submitted by a facility. Form Rs can be found by searching for a particular facility in Envirofacts.

How does my community compare to others in the United States?

EPA's Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI) tool can help you compare location-specific risks using relative risk estimates. RSEI is a screening-level model that combines TRI information on the amount of toxic chemical releases with the other risk factors to help assess the relative hazard and risk of chemicals, facilities and industries.

You may also want to explore the EJ View mapping tool, which includes data on multiple factors that may affect public and environmental health within a community or region.

The National Air Toxics Assessment (NATA) mentioned above provides information on air pollution risks across the country from many sources, including industrial facilities.

The annual TRI National Analysis report also has information you can use to understand what's happening in certain geographic areas, including profiles of major industry sectors and graphical displays showing the largest quantities of TRI chemicals being disposed or otherwise released to air, water and land.

How can I find more information?

If you are interested in learning about what toxic chemicals are released in your community, the myRTK application can help you easily find TRI data. You can use it on a smart phone by going to myrtk.epa.gov/info/ . There are also several advanced tools to help you examine TRI releases more closely.

You can learn more about using and interpreting TRI in Factors to Consider When Using TRI Data (PDF) (37pp, 155MB, About PDF). To find more environmental information about the area where you live, enter your zip code into EPA's MyEnvironment tool.

There are many other resources compiled by EPA and other federal agencies that have useful information about the toxicity of individual chemicals, including:

Where can I get help? I would like to talk to a real person.

Staff at the TRI Information Center can help you gain access to and understand the TRI data. Call 1-800-424-9346 and select option 3.

If you'd prefer to email your questions, contact the TRI Help Desk (tri.help@epa.gov). TRI staff will review and respond to questions and comments as quickly possible.

For help in understanding TRI data about a particular geographic area or facility, you may contact the TRI regional coordinator for your location.