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Press Contact: Sophie Cardona: (212) 361-2400, ext. 244 , or email cardona@informinc.org

NEW INFORM REPORT FINDS NATIONAL ADOPTION OF NEW JERSEY "RIGHT-TO-KNOW" REPORTING REQUIREMENT ESSENTIAL FOR MOVING TOWARD SAFER USE OF TOXIC CHEMICALS

New York, NY -- New Jerseyans have access to a unique information resource enabling them to identify potential problems posed by industry's use of toxic chemicals in their state, according to a new report by the environmental research group INFORM.

This new 80-page report, Tracking Toxic Chemicals: The Value of Materials Accounting Data, by INFORM Senior Research Associates Mark Dorfman and Marian Wise, explores the greater insights into industrial activity made possible by New Jersey's materials accounting data. These data provide not only information on chemicals in waste, but also a fuller picture of the quantities of chemicals moving in and out of facilities. Material accounting data includes the quantities of chemicals: 1) transported to a plant site, 2) produced at the site, 3) used up (consumed) in production processes, 4) stored at the site, and 5) leaving the facility as (or in) a product that may be used by another plant or wind up on the supermarket shelf.

Materials accounting data are not collected by the US EPA for the national Toxics Release Inventory, which covers quantities of chemicals generated as waste and released to the environment or transferred off-site for management. However, Congress and EPA are now considering requiring these additional data for all facilities that report to TRI.

"Why is this expanded picture of chemicals moving through facilities important? Because materials accounting data provide the preliminary information needed to assess the possible effects of hazardous substances on workers, the local community, and the environment by identifying how much of which toxic chemicals are used at specific industrial facilities," explains author Mark Dorfman. "The data also provide a way to measure the progress companies are making in preventing pollution at its source, by showing the efficiency with which facilities are using chemicals."

A picture of where chemicals are transported, used, produced, and stored

Tracking Toxic Chemicals reveals that the quantities of chemicals in waste reported to EPA's TRI (466 million pounds in 1994) are dwarfed by the 13.3 billion pounds of chemicals used by New Jersey facilities.

"Since the risks of transporting, using, producing, and storing chemicals may be as great as those posed by releasing or managing chemicals in waste," points out Mr. Dorfman, "It is crucial that industry and the public be able to track both chemicals in waste and those in use."

Materials accounting data show, for example, that:

• The amount of toxic chemicals transported as products entering NJ facilities totalled 7.6 billion pounds in 1994 in 72 times the amount leaving the facilities as waste (yet TRI data only show the small waste portion).
  
• The amount of carcinogens (cancer-causing substances) shipped to or from facilities totalled more than 1.7 billion pounds in 1994 in 219 times the 7.8 million pounds transferred as waste.

Tracking changes in chemical use

Examining the period 1991-1994, Tracking Toxic Chemicals illustrates changes in quantities of chemicals used by New Jersey industry. Two of the most important shifts are:

• The use of industrial toxic chemicals in New Jersey increased by 633 million pounds from 1991 to 1994, about 5 percent, climbing to 13.3 billion pounds.
  
• Waste generation by NJ facilities increased by 9.3 million pounds from 1991 to 1994, about 2 percent, rising to 466 million pounds.

While the amounts of toxic materials used and wastes generated both increased from 1991 to 1994, the percent increase in waste was smaller, indicating a promising trend toward using chemicals more efficiently.

Evaluating industry's efficiency at using chemicals

Both the US EPA and New Jersey require industrial facilities to report the intended uses of the chemicals they handle. Combining this use information with the materials accounting data reported in New Jersey allowed INFORM to evaluate how efficiently a facility or industry sector is at using chemicals for their intended purpose. For example, if a facility reported that a chemical was needed as a reactant (substances that react with others and get "consumed" in the process), was some of it left over and shipped out in the product anyway? If a chemical was intended as a product ingredient, how much of it went into the waste stream instead? INFORM was also able to identify which chemicals, across the state, are being used more inefficiently and might deserve closer scrutiny.

"The ability to measure industrial efficiency has become even more important recently in New Jersey," says Mr. Dorfman, "because the state is phasing out the collection of data on the quantities of chemicals reduced through prevention at the source. Analyzing chemical use efficiency will be the only way to evaluate whether industry is achieving pollution prevention progress."

Statewide changes in efficiency

• New Jersey facilities were less efficient at keeping chemicals such as solvents, catalysts, and other processing aids out of products when the chemical was not intended to be part of the product: the ratio of the quantity shipped as (or in) product increased from 1991 to 1994, with 1.63 billion pounds of these chemicals shipped.
  
• New Jersey facilities also put more chemicals that were not intended to part of the product into the waste stream: the ratio of waste to use increased, so that 178.5 million pounds of these chemicals were generated as waste in 1994.
  
• On the bright side, New Jersey facilities were more efficient in 1994 than in 1991 at incorporating toxic chemicals intended to be part of the product into the final products, thus avoiding their becoming part of the waste stream.

Comparing specific facilities

• Of the facilities that reported materials accounting data in New Jersey in 1994, Mobil Oil Corporation's refinery in Paulsboro (Gloucester County) put the greatest quantity of chemicals in final products that were not intended as ingredients: the facility put 1.59 billion pounds of these chemicals in its products, demonstrating inefficiency.
  
• The Bayshore Vinyl Compounds facility in Tennent generated the greatest quantity of waste for a carcinogen that was intended as a product ingredient: the facility demonstrated inefficiency by allowing 291,339 pounds of this material to leave the facility as waste.

Comparing industry sectors

• Of the 20 industry sectors required to report materials accounting data in New Jersey, the petroleum industry (SIC code 29) ranked first in inefficient use of chemicals not intended to be part of the product, shipping 1.60 billion pounds of such chemicals in product in 1994. At the same time, this industry appeared to achieve some progress in 1994, shipping a smaller percentage of such chemicals in product than it had in 1991 (93.6 percent compared with 95.4 percent).
  
• Efficiency improved for three industry sectors when using chemicals that were intended to be part of the product: petroleum (SIC code 29), chemicals (SIC code 28), and primary metals (SIC code 33). All of these industries incorporated a greater portion of such chemicals into the final product in 1994 than in 1991 and kept a greater portion out of the waste stream.

Comparing chemicals

• Looking at the reported use of chemicals that were not intended to be in the final product, INFORM found that the two chemicals with the greatest amount of material ending up in the product anyway were toluene (622 million pounds shipped in products) and xylene (560 million pounds shipped in products). Toluene is highly flammable and can lead to serious health impacts including mutations and damage to bone marrow, liver, and kidneys. Xylene also poses a fire hazard and may damage a developing fetus.
  
• For chemicals of special concern (bioaccumulators, carcinogens, ozone depleters, heavy metals, chloroorganics, and haloorganics), use of these chemicals as reactants improved in efficiency, meaning more material was chemically converted and less was generated as waste or shipped in its original form in the product. (Heavy metals have been linked to cancer, respiratory and neurological disorders, and reproductive problems. Chloroorganics have been implicated in cancer, reproductive problems, and ozone depletion. Haloorganics have also been linked to ozone depletion.)

Motivating improvements

"New Jersey's materials accounting data is valuable to the private sector as well as to government and environmental groups," says INFORM Founder Joanna D. Underwood. "If compiled by all TRI-reporting companies nationally, plant managers would have a clearer picture of their own operations, opening the door to the kind of creative thinking about changes in plant practices, products, or feedstocks that will be vital to achieving economically and environmentally sustainable industry operations in this country."