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Pollutants in my environment
- An Introduction To The National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI)
What is it?
The National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) was established in 1992 to provide a national,
publicly accessible database of pollutants released into the Canadian environment. Each year,
releases and transfers of pollutants from facilities nation-wide are reported.
The program's main objectives are to:
- inform the public;
- encourage voluntary reduction and monitor progress;
- set priorities for action.
Almost 2 000 facilities across Canada report to the NPRI on a yearly basis.
Who should report?
Any person who owns or operates a facility must submit an NPRI report for the substances listed
only if all three of the following criteria are met:
- employees worked a total of 20 000 hours or more during the year, which is equivalent to 10 full-time
employees, and
- the facility manufactured, processed or otherwise used 10 tonnes (10 000 kg) or more of an NPRI
substance in the calendar year, and
- the NPRI substance was manufactured, processed or otherwise used at a concentration greater
than or equal to 1% by weight, with the exception of NPRI substances considered to be by-products.
The total weight of by-products must also be included in the calculation of the 10-tonne
threshold of each NPRI substance.
Beginning with the year 2000, the reporting threshold for some substances, such as toxic micropollutants,
has been lowered to ensure that releases of the substances are reported to the NPRI.
Substances
For the 2000 reporting year, there were 268 substances on the NPRI list, including 55 considered to
be carcinogenic (as defined by the International Agency for Research on Cancer) and/or toxic (under
the Canadian Environmental Protection Act).
A complete list of the substances is available on the NPRI national web site.
NPRI definitions
Throughout this document, you will notice that certain terms are regularly used. In order to facilitate
your understanding of the text, here are the main terms related to the NPRI, with a brief description
for each of them:
| Facility |
All buildings, equipment, structures or other stationary items that are located on a single site or on contiguous or adjacent sites and that are owned by the same
company and operated as a single integrated site.
Facilities must meet certain criteria regarding, for an example, the number of
employees, the quantity and concentration of substances released.
It is important to differentiate between a facility and a company, since one single
company can own and operate many facilities.
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| Substance |
Material of particular or definite chemical constitution; within the NPRI
program, the term substance refers to all the pollutants listed in the inventory in
accordance with CEPA.
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| Release |
A release is an on-site discharge of a pollutant to the environment, within the
boundaries of the facility; this includes emissions to air, discharges to surface
waters, on-site releases to land and deep-well underground injection.
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| Off-site transfers |
When a listed pollutant is shipped to an off-site location for final disposal, for
treatment prior to final disposal, or for recycling, it is identified as an off-site
transfer.
In the case of the NPRI, facilities must report their off-site transfers for disposal
and for recycling of a pollutant. |
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