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Toxics
Release Inventory Shows Need For Pollution Prevention
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WASHINGTON
- June 18 - The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) today
challenged industries which use or release toxic chemicals to make pollution prevention
(i.e., avoiding the creation of waste) a standard business practice. Today's announcement
of 1996 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data by the US Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) shows that while the overall release of toxins has decreased, likely due to
"end of pipe" pollution controls, companies still have not made significant
efforts to avoid producing unnecessary waste in the first place. For instance, many
companies have relied upon inefficient and sometimes dirty recycling strategies that have
not reduced the generation of waste.
"The EPA is moving in the right direction by focusing more on production-related
waste, rather than just releases and transfers. Industrial toxic waste is an environmental
problem and it is profit gone down the drain. The production-related waste numbers show
that there is vast potential for US manufacturers to become cleaner and more
efficient," said Kevin Mills, director of EDF's Pollution Prevention Alliance.
"Cleaner manufacturing may be achieved by redesigning products and processes to
improve performance. EPA's effort to focus on specific industry sectors also could help in
identifying such opportunities," said Lois Epstein, an EDF senior engineer.
"The Toxics Release Inventory doesn't tell the whole story, however. To put pollution
prevention first, right-to-know programs must be expanded to track toxins in manufactured
products, within manufacturing processes, and in upstream activities such as material
processing and transportation," said Mills.
H.R. 1636 and S. 769, the Children's Environmental Protection and Right to Know Act, would
extend the public's right-to-know about toxic pollution by providing greater insights into
these activities and provide an important incentive for companies to further reduce
pollution
The 1996 TRI data will shortly be available through EDF's free internet Chemical Scorecard
at www.scorecard.org (users can register to be notified when the 1996 data are available).
Scorecard currently provides TRI data through 1995. In addition to raw pounds of TRI
releases, Scorecard provides information on toxicity-weighted releases, allowing users to
identify priorities for action. Scorecard also lets users rank states, counties, zip codes
and facilities by 40 different criteria, and enables users to send faxes to top-ranked
polluters. It also provides information on known and suspected health effects of TRI
chemicals, and 5000 additional chemicals. Since its launch on April 15, 1998, Scorecard
has received more than 10 million hits. The Environmental Defense Fund, a
leading national, NY-based nonprofit organization, represents 300,000 members. EDF links
science, economics, and law to create innovative, equitable and economically viable
solutions to today's environmental problems.
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