TRI Programs in Other Countries

Since the first Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) program was established in the United States, pollutant release and transfer register (PRTR) programs have been established in approximately 30 countries. In 1993, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental organization, began work to encourage the development of PRTRs. This chapter describes the E-PRTR which consists of an EU-level publicly accessible electronic database which is intended to meet the requirements of the OECD Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers. In addition to the PRTR programs in various European Union (EU) countries, the EU has established a PRTR that consolidates and centralizes pollutant release and transfer data from the member countries. The National Pollutant Release Inventory is Canada’s legislated, publicly accessible inventory of pollutant releases and transfers. The Australian National Pollutant Inventory is a database of emissions managed by the Australian government.