What decision-
makers don't
know can hurt.
From national
governments
to local citizens,
good policies
and informed
actions depend
on good data.
National and state governments establish PRTRs to collect information from industry about their releases to the environment and shipments ("transfers") to other sites of toxic chemicals in waste. Intergovernmental organizations have joined to facilitate PRTR development throughout the world. HRI staff have been integrally involved in development of the U.S. inventory - the first PRTR - and in promoting use of this important environmental tool in North America and abroad.
U.S. Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) - Hampshire staff coauthored research that led to creation of TRI; proposed the strategy and design for publicly sharing TRI information, developed preliminary analyses of first-year data; analyzed data and wrote national reports in each of TRI's first year for U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
EXIT to TRI/U.S. EPA
North American Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers - With partners in Canada and Mexico, Hampshire staff helped design and coauthored the first continent-wide analyses of PRTR data in North America, for the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC). This work continues with annual data reports, titled Taking Stock, covering the U.S. TRI, Canada's National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI), and the emerging Registro de Emisiones y Transferencia de Contaminantes (RETC) in Mexico.
EXIT to North American PRTRs/CEC
PRTR Estimation, Dissemination - For OECD, Hampshire staff have undertaken a pair of projects to provide practical guidance to existing and emerging PRTRs on important aspects of PRTR design and operation: estimating releases and disseminating PRTR data. With Pacific Environmental Services, Hampshire is surveying existing estimation techniques for industrial processes and for diffuse sources (such as agriculture, transportation, consumer uses). The resulting catalogue will make information on estimation techniques readily available to PRTRs. The project will also identify and fill gaps where such methods are lacking. Hampshire's report on dissemination and presentation methods used by governments, international organizations, industry, non-governmental organizations, and academic focuses on the World Wide Web as a burgeoning tool for achieving PRTR dissemination aims. It also examines related topics such as confidentiality and corporate environmental reporting.
Environmental Incentives - Working with International Resources Group Ltd., HRI examined environmental incentive programs offered by industry (British Petroleum), a developing country (Indonesia's PROPER program), and a federal agency (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency). The three case studies showed the importance of environmental information in successful incentives programs.
PRTR Web Page - HRI designed and implemented a prototype Web site on PRTR developments worldwide, for the United Nations Environment Programme.
EXIT to PRTRs/UNEP
Guidance for Developing PRTRs - Hampshire developed guidance documents to help industrial facilities estimate chemical releases and transfers, surveyed national and regional PRTR requirements and plans, and provided on-site training (in Mexico) for the United Nations Institute for Training and Research.
Toxic Chemical Registry in the Czech Republic - HRI has helped the Czech Republic in efforts to design and implement an annual toxic chemical release and transfer inventory, working with the Institute for Sustainable Communities (U.S.), the Society for Sustainable Living (Czech Republic), and international bodies.
EXIT to order from Institute for Sustainable Communities
Toxics Watch 1995 - HRI produced this 800-page national report on trends in waste generation, waste management, and source reduction (pollution prevention) on behalf of and in cooperation with INFORM, Inc. The report looked at the scarcity of data necessary for sound assessment of toxics in air, water, soil and dust, and food. Special features examined history and current activity in environmental justic and state improvements on US federal toxics data reporting.
EXIT to order from INFORM
New Jersey's inventory of toxic chemical releases and transfers served as a model for the U.S. TRI. HRI makes available New Jersey data for 1988-1995 in this Web site.
Environmental Reporting Requirements - With the support of the Pew Charitable Trusts and U.S. EPA, HRI has undertaken a broad survey of toxic chemical/hazardous waste reporting that industry must submit to government. The research identified important public needs for information to measure the environmental performance of industrial facilities, gaps in existing data to meet those needs, and impediments to public access. HRI distinguished core data elements that could greatly expand public, government, and industry's ability to measure environmental performance.
Corporate Environmental Reporting - HRI participated with World Wildlife Fund in researching the ability of government, nongovernment, and corporate environmental reporting requirements and practices to identify toxics problems and to measure progress in solving those problems. The resulting "benchmark" for environmental reporting systems is intended to foster more widespread availability of information on industrial use and disposition of toxic chemicals.
EXIT to order from World Wildlife Fund
