Air and water releases of dioxin from the chlorine industry fell to 8.6 grams in 2003, the most recent year of dioxin Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) reporting. This amount represents less than 1 percent of 1995 dioxin emissions from all quantified sources in the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Dioxin Source Inventory. The graphic on this page compares four years of the chlorine sector's air and water dioxin TRI releases to EPA's 1987 and 1995 Dioxin Source Inventory emissions and EPA's projected 2002/4 emissions.

The EPA instituted dioxin reporting for certain industries, including chlorine producers and users, in the year 2000. Data show the chlorine sector's total air and water dioxin emissions have declined 70 percent in four years of reporting. (Scroll over the years 2000 - 2003 in the graphic below to view this decline.) The chlorine industry is a small and vanishing source of dioxin emissions to the open environment. Though not reported as part of the TRI, backyard trash burning is currently the largest manmade source of dioxins to the environment according to EPA estimates.

The EPA requires reporting facilities to submit dioxin release data in units of grams (TM-17). This site lists chlorine industry dioxin release data as reported to the EPA in grams, and also in units of toxic equivalents (TEQ). The latter unit is a widely used reporting method employed by scientists and technical writers to denote a measure of toxicity of a quantity of dioxin, as opposed to its mass.

Links to 2003, 2002, 2001 and 2000 Dioxin Data from Major Chlorine Producers and Users:

• Disposal in Underground Injection Wells and Landfills
• Transfers to Off-site Locations
• Source Reduction Activities