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GENERATORS OF SOLID WASTE IN TEXAS
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GENERATOR
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TONS
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Industry: Hazardous Waste
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63 Million
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Industry, Oil and Gas Exploration and Development: Non-Hazardous Waste (Class 1
Waste)
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82.9 Million
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Institutional, Residential, and Commercial: Municipal Waste
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28.6 Million
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Institutional, Residential, and Commercial: Municipal Waste Recycling
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15.7 million
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Municipal Wastewater Plant Sludge
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Municipal Waste includes residential, commercial and institutional waste, as well
as a small percentage of non-hazardous industrial waste and construction debris.
Sludge includes only sludge that is sent to sludge land- application sites, not
sludge that goes directly to municipal waste landfills.
Note: Hazardous waste figure is for 1999; Class I waste from 1997; and other waste from 2000.
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Source: Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Trends in
Hazardous Waste Management: 1999 Update (2002) and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Needs Assessment for Industrial Class I Non-Hazardous Waste
Commercial Disposal Capacity in Texas (2002).
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Industrial solid waste—which may be solid, or liquid or gas held in containers—is divided into hazardous and nonhazardous waste. Hazardous wastes may result from manufacturing or other industrial processes. Certain
commercial products such as cleaning fluids, paints, or pesticides that are discarded by commercial establishments or individuals also can be defined as hazardous wastes. Wastes
determined to be hazardous are regulated by hazardous waste rules established pursuant to Resource Conservation Recovery Act's Subtitle C requirements.
Nonhazardous industrial wastes are those that do not meet the
EPA's definition of hazardous waste—and are not municipal wastes. These nonhazardous wastes fall under RCRA's Subtitle D solid waste management requirements. Under
Texas regulations, nonhazardous wastes generated by industrial facilities are categorized as Class 1, Class 2, and Class 3 wastes. Class 2 and 3 wastes are considered less
harmful to the environment and human health than Class 1 wastes. While industries must report the type of waste they produce and the amount of Class 1 waste they generate, they
do not have to report how much Class 2 or Class 3 wastes they generate or how they dispose of these wastes. However, municipal solid waste landfills do have to report the receipt of
all industrial waste, including Class 2 and 3 wastes.
In the United States, the amount of hazardous waste generated by manufacturing industries in the country had
increased from an estimated 4.5 million tons annually after World War II, to some 57 million tons by 1975.* By 1990
this total had shot up to approximately 265 million tons, although much of this increase was due to a rule change which required vast amounts of wastewater contaminated with toxics to
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GENERATION OF HAZARDOUS WASTE
BY INDUSTRY IN TEXAS, 2001
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Source: Joseph Walton, Waste Planning and Assessment, Texas
Commission on Environmental Quality, September 22, 2003.
Note: Numbers are preliminary and subject to change.
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be reported as hazardous wastes.* In 1997, EPA
changed its rules again, and reported most wastewaters separately. In 1999, the U.S. EPA estimated that total hazardous wastes generated by industrial plants in the
U.S. total some 40 million tons, not including wastewaters. This total was nearly identical to the 1997 total.*
These wastes are generated at every stage in the production, use, and disposal of manufactured products.
Thus, the introduction of many new products for the home and office—computers and computer papers, drugs, textiles, paints and dyes, plastics—also introduced
hazardous wastes—including toxic chemicals—into the environment.
Historically, Texas has ranked first in the nation in total
hazardous waste generated, due to the state's large size and industrial base. While measurements reported by
the EPA and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality differ significantly due to differing definitions and reporting requirements, there is no doubt that industries
in Texas have and continue to generate more hazardous waste than any other state. For example, in 1999, the
EPA reported that Texas industries generated 14.9 million tons of hazardous wastes out of a total of 40 million tons –
nearly 37% of all wastes generated throughout the U.S -- while the TCEQ reported Texas industries generated 63 million tons, although about 75 percent of these were wastewaters. *
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GENERATION OF RCRA DEFINED
HAZARDOUS WASTE, 1999 (thousands of tons)
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US Total: 40,026,050
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Source: U.S. EPA, The National Biennial RCRA Hazardous Waste Report (Based on 1999 Data), June 2001, Exhibit 1
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In 1993 state agency data showed that Texas industries generated about 181 million tons of
hazardous waste, while in 1995 Texas industries generated 148 million tons.* By 1997, the state
reported generation of nearly 70 million by Texas industrial facilities, a total which dropped to 63 million by 1999. Preliminary data from the TCEQ indicate that
in 2001, the total dropped to 47.4 million tons, mainly due to a new process at two chemical plants which separated hazardous wastewater from nonhazardous
wastewater, thus reducing the total volume*. It is important to note that it is not possible to compare 1995 to 1997, 1999 or 2001 numbers due to different
reporting requirements which lowered the volume of wastewaters which had to be reported as hazardous wastes. Still, while some 20 million Texans,
commercial businesses, and institutions, as well as some industries, discarded about 28.6 million tons of solid waste into municipal landfills, burned about
50,000 tons of solid waste in municipal incinerators, and recycled some 15.7 million tons of papers, plastics
and cans, some 9,000 businesses, commercial institutions, and industries produced 63 million tons of hazardous waste.
Industries—including the oil and gas exploration and development industry—also produced another 83 million tons of Class 1 nonhazardous wastes in 1997.* In 2001 Texas manufacturing facilities again led the nation in the amount of toxic chemicals released or transferred. When all industries are included -- such as mining operations and electric
utilities -- Texas ranked fifth overall.*
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FLOW OF MATERIALS, PRODUCTS, AND SOLID WASTE
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Source: Council on Environmental Quality, Executive Office of the
President, Environmental Trends (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, July 1981), 77.
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