On-site releases

In Section 5, you must account forthe total aggregate releases of the toxic chemical to the environment from your facility for the calendar year. Releases to the environment include emissions to the air, discharges to surface waters, and on-site releases to land and underground injection wells. If you have no releases to a particular media (e.g., stack air), enter not applicable, NA do not leave any part of Section 5 blank. Check the box on the last line of this section if you use Part IV, the supplemental information sheet. 

Only on-site releases of the toxic chemical to the environment for the calendar year are to be reported in this section of the form. The total releases from your facility do not include transfers or shipments of the chemical from your facility for sale or distribution in commerce, or of wastes to other facilities fortreatment ordisposal (see Pari III, Section 6). Both routine releases, such as fugitive air emissions, and accidental or nonroutine releases, such as chemical spills, must be included in your estimate of the quantity released. EPA requires no more than two significant digits when reporting releases (e.g., 7521 pounds would be reported as 7500 pounds). 

Air" Water Underground injection Land Total on-site release" Total off-site release Total on and off-site release... 

According to the Environmental Protection Agency Toxics Release Inventory, air emissions of diethanolamine from 358 industrial facilities in 1994 were approximately 149 200 kg in the United States (Environmental Protection Agency, 1996). According to the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) of Canada, on-site releases of diethanolamine to air from 74 facilities amounted to about 40 000 kg (Environment Canada, 1995). 

The breakdown of on-site waste disposal practices from the United States pharmaceutical industry in 1995 and 2006 is shown in Table 3.4. Table 3.5 displays some of the commonly used solvents in the pharmaceutical industry and the amount of each directly released on-site in 1995 and 2006. As shown in Table 3.4, in 1995 the majority of on-site releases were due to stack emissions. By 2006 the amount of fugitive, stack, and water releases decreased significantly, whereas the amount of wastes injected underground remained the same. This suggests that... 

Toxics Use Reduction and Prevention By the mid-1980s, it was apparent to many people that certain toxic chemicals could not be managed safely and needed to be phased out or sunsetted . In 1987, attorney Sanford Lewis proposed legislation to reduce the use of toxic chemicals in Massachusetts and 2 years later the state legislature passed the Toxics Use Reduction Act (TURA). The Act created the Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI) to help Massachusetts firms reduce their use of toxic materials. Today, compared to 1990, Massachusetts firms subject to reporting under TURA are generating 58% less waste per unit of product and have reduced on-site releases of federally reportable toxic chemicals by 90%. In addition, since 1990, quantities of chemicals shipped in product have been reduced by 47% (per unit of product shipped). 

NPRI covers some 260 chemicals (in 2001). However, only 204 substances were the same in NPRI and TRI in 2001. NPRI provides information on on-site releases and off-site transfers for final disposal and other treatment. Reporting on off-site transfers to recycling and energy recovery was made... 

Number of facilities Aii Water Underground injection Total Land on-site release s ... 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maintains the Toxic Chemical Release Inventory. This database summarizes estimated chemical releases from industrial sources to air, water, land, and the subsurface by deep-well injection in the United States. Not all industrial sources are required to provide release data to the EPA, and nine of the solvents discussed in this chapter are not included in the database. The information provided, however, indicated that about 99,364,390 kg of solvents were released into the environment in 2011, and that the major solvents were hexane, methanol, and toluene (Table 16.1.2). On a weight basis, methanol accounted for more than half of the releases. With the exeeption of nitrobenzene and pyridine, the major on-site releases were made to the atmosphere. For... 

Table 16.1.2. Estimated on-site releases (in kg) of the solvents in 2011 [Data from TRI). ...

Off-site transfers in waste are reported separately from on-site releases because ... 

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