1 Overview of Releases and Transfers in North America, 2014–2018
North American industrial facilities reported a total of 5,294,180,684 kilograms (kg) in pollutant releases and transfers in 2018, which represents an increase of about 3% from the 5,149,514,183 kg reported in 2014. Figure 2 presents aggregated data for the categories of releases and transfers featured in the Taking Stock Online database and described in Figure 1 –i.e.: on-site releases to air, water, underground injection, and land (including disposal); and off-site transfers to recycling, sewage, treatment or energy recovery, and disposal.
Figure 2. Releases and Transfers Reported in the North American Countries, 2014–2018
Note: Differences among national reporting requirements need to be considered when interpreting North American PRTR data.
This figure also shows, for each year, the relative contribution of each country to the North American total. The data reveal that US facilities, which greatly outnumbered those in the other two countries (Figure 4), accounted for between 62 and 64% of the total amount reported each year, with Canadian facilities accounting for between 35 and 37% of the total. While reported releases and transfers in Mexico represented less than 1% of the North American total, amounts reported by facilities in that country increased by almost 74% (from just over 28 million kg in 2014 to almost 49 million kg in 2018).