Section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) Reporting

The July 1, 2011 annual deadline for submitting TRI reports is rapidly approaching.

Who must file TRI reports?

An individual facility must report to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), state, and tribal governments if it employs the equivalent of at least 10 full-time workers (or 20,000 hours) and meets the following two requirements:

• It "manufactures" or "processes" at least 25,000 pounds of a listed chemical or it "otherwise uses" at least 10,000 pounds of a listed chemical

• Companies with Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes 20-39 (manufacturing) plus 7 industry groups including solvent recovery services, commercial hazardous waste treatment, chemical distributors, metal mining, coal mining, petroleum bulk stations (wholesale) and electric utilities

Click here to review the list of EPA reportable materials.

For each listed chemical "manufactured," "processed" or "otherwise used" in an amount exceeding the threshold level, a facility must report the following:

• Amount released to the air, water, and land
• Amount shipped from the facility to other locations for recycling, energy recovery, treatment or disposal
• Amount recycled, burned for energy recovery or treated at the facility
• Maximum amount present on-site at the facility during the year (Throughput)
• Types of activities conducted at the facility involving the chemical(s)
• Source reduction activities
• Environmental permits held
• Name and telephone number of a contact person

Click here to review the EPA fact sheet.

It is important to note that TRI requires reporting up to five years retroactively if you have never before filed. (Note: some states may require additional years)