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Top Toxic Chemicals Released

Most released chemicals from 21,870 facilities reporting to the EPA Toxics Release Inventory, totaling 3,402,071,890 pounds of chemical releases.

The EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) requires industrial facilities to report annual releases of listed toxic chemicals to air, water, land, and underground injection wells. Over 650 individual chemicals and chemical categories are covered by the TRI program. The chemicals listed here represent those with the highest total reported release volumes across all facilities and years in the database. Release volume alone does not indicate health risk — the toxicity, persistence, and proximity to populated areas are all relevant to assessing potential harm.

Top Chemicals by Release Volume

All TRI-listed chemicals ranked by total pounds released.

# Chemical Total Released (lbs) Records
1 Zinc compounds 640,653,578 2,896
2 Lead And Lead Compounds 612,791,509 2,092
3 Nitrate compounds (water dissociable; reportable only when in aqueous solution) 252,924,882 2,340
4 Hydrogen sulfide 203,041,946 504
5 Ammonia 162,633,048 2,199
6 Manganese And Manganese Compounds 128,223,633 606
7 Copper And Copper Compounds 122,173,955 623
8 Methanol 116,446,937 2,242
9 Arsenic compounds CARC 114,566,521 124
10 Barium compounds (except for barium sulfate (CAS No. 7727-43-7)) 106,729,004 316
11 Barium And Barium Compounds 77,924,282 297
12 Lead compounds 68,085,278 1,502
13 Manganese compounds 54,383,967 940
14 n-Hexane 51,699,068 1,542
15 Sulfuric acid (acid aerosols including mists, vapors, gas, fog, and other airborne forms of any particle size) 36,271,844 544
16 Styrene CARC 30,688,214 1,142
17 Chromium and Chromium Compounds(except for chromite ore mined in the Transvaal Region) 28,542,862 574
18 Copper compounds 25,065,978 860
19 Ethylene glycol 23,924,019 1,465
20 Vanadium compounds 22,644,423 360
21 Copper 21,990,563 2,405
22 Asbestos (friable) CARC 21,517,917 34
23 Hydrochloric acid (acid aerosols including mists, vapors, gas, fog, and other airborne forms of any particle size) 20,496,354 798
24 Toluene 19,664,750 2,204
25 Nickel And Nickel Compounds CARC 18,767,471 548
26 Formaldehyde CARC 17,837,615 715
27 Acetonitrile 17,611,616 151
28 Ethylene 15,856,826 316
29 Aluminum (fume or dust) 15,380,562 283
30 Certain glycol ethers 14,878,425 1,437
31 Xylene (mixed isomers) 12,158,371 2,038
32 Chromium compounds (except for chromite ore mined in the Transvaal Region) 11,777,285 582
33 Nitric acid 11,464,406 1,654
34 N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone 11,350,928 370
35 Manganese 10,735,975 2,331
36 Hydrogen fluoride 9,920,950 619
37 Formic acid 9,320,676 345
38 Carbonyl sulfide 9,113,709 121
39 Aluminum oxide (fibrous forms) 8,797,790 67
40 n-Butyl alcohol 8,335,966 681
41 Lead CARC 8,018,012 4,099
42 Antimony compounds 7,719,325 245
43 Propylene 7,628,354 460
44 Acetaldehyde CARC 7,599,342 446
45 Chromium 7,557,294 2,518
46 Carbon disulfide 7,447,841 140
47 Cyanide compounds 7,260,990 166
48 Nickel compounds CARC 7,179,152 492
49 Benzene CARC 6,918,386 1,179
50 Acrylonitrile CARC 6,906,213 89

CARC = classified as a known or suspected carcinogen.

Top Carcinogens Released

Known or suspected carcinogens with the highest total TRI release volumes.

# Chemical Total Released (lbs)
1 Arsenic compounds 114,566,521
2 Styrene 30,688,214
3 Asbestos (friable) 21,517,917
4 Nickel And Nickel Compounds 18,767,471
5 Formaldehyde 17,837,615
6 Lead 8,018,012
7 Acetaldehyde 7,599,342
8 Nickel compounds 7,179,152
9 Benzene 6,918,386
10 Acrylonitrile 6,906,213
11 Nickel 5,857,370
12 Acrylamide 5,794,045
13 Cadmium And Cadmium Compounds 5,116,766
14 Polychlorinated biphenyls 5,022,380
15 Arsenic And Arsenic Compounds 4,865,691
16 Methyl isobutyl ketone 2,893,725
17 Ethylbenzene 2,803,274
18 Cobalt And Cobalt Compounds 2,719,318
19 N,N-Dimethylformamide 2,476,831
20 Dichloromethane 2,387,342
21 Aniline 2,377,263
22 Cadmium compounds 2,244,301
23 Naphthalene 1,974,544
24 Cobalt compounds 1,961,401
25 Molybdenum trioxide 1,842,719
26 Acetamide 1,246,476
27 Vinyl acetate 1,221,126
28 1,3-Butadiene 1,162,105
29 Arsenic 1,082,167
30 Tetrachloroethylene 1,028,780
31 Cumene 873,789
32 1-Bromopropane 796,246
33 Trichloroethylene 780,659
34 Polycyclic aromatic compounds 748,635
35 1,4-Dioxane 688,851
36 1,2-Dichloroethane 555,713
37 Ethyl acrylate 550,663
38 Cobalt 537,994
39 Creosote 509,883
40 Acrolein 442,339
41 Propylene oxide 404,602
42 Pyridine 386,147
43 Chloroform 358,778
44 Vinyl chloride 318,462
45 Beryllium And Beryllium Compounds 306,479
46 Nitrobenzene 283,943
47 Beryllium compounds 272,459
48 Cadmium 237,408
49 Epichlorohydrin 213,524
50 Chlorophenols 213,136

Carcinogen classification is based on the TRI reporting form field as designated by EPA, IARC, or NTP.

Understanding TRI Chemical Data

What TRI Measures

The Toxics Release Inventory captures releases and transfers of toxic chemicals from manufacturing, mining, electric utilities, and other covered industries. Releases are reported by pathway: stack air emissions, fugitive air emissions (leaks and evaporation), surface water discharges, underground injection, and land disposal including landfills. Facilities must also report off-site transfers of waste for treatment and disposal. The TRI does not cover all industries or all chemicals — it represents a significant but incomplete picture of industrial chemical activity in the United States.

High Volume vs. High Risk

Some of the highest-volume TRI chemicals — like nitrate compounds, hydrochloric acid, and ammonia — are released in very large quantities but may disperse rapidly or have limited persistent health effects compared to lower-volume releases of highly toxic compounds. Carcinogen releases are of particular concern because they represent exposures that can contribute to cancer risk over long time periods and at very low concentrations. When evaluating chemical risk in your area, the EPA's TRI Explorer and the agency's Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI) model provide more nuanced risk-adjusted analysis than raw release weights alone.

Explore Environmental Hazards Data

Browse Superfund sites by state, or search TRI releases by facility or chemical.

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