EPA Requires Toxics Release Inventory Reporting on DINP
Released July 13, 2023
Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized a rule that adds a diisononyl phthalate (DINP) category to the list of toxic chemicals subject to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) reporting requirements under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act and the Pollution Prevention Act. The rule will help increase public awareness of how DINP is being used and if it is being released into the environment.
DINP is a common chemical name for a family of di-ester phthalates widely used as plasticizers. These chemicals are colorless, oily liquids with high boiling points, low volatilities, and poor solubility in water. The treatment of plastics with DINP-category chemicals provides greater flexibility and softness to the final product. Some of the uses of DINP-treated plastics are the production of coated fabrics, plastic toys, electrical insulation, and vinyl flooring.
EPA has also updated its hazard assessment and economic analysis for the DINP category. Since its previous hazard assessment in 2005, additional studies of the health effects of DINP chemicals were completed. The data for DINP demonstrate that DINP has moderately high to high human health toxicity. As discussed in the updated hazard assessment published with the final rule, EPA finds that DINP-category chemicals can reasonably be anticipated to cause reproductive dysfunctions and serious or irreversible chronic human health effects at moderately low to low doses, including developmental effects, kidney toxicity, and liver toxicity.
The rule requires reporting of certain information to TRI by certain facilities in covered industry sectors (including federal facilities) that manufacture or process more than 25,000 pounds of DINP-category chemicals per year, or otherwise use more than 10,000 pounds of DINP-category chemicals per year. This reporting information would include quantities of DINP-category chemicals that were released into the environment or otherwise managed as waste.
The TRI program helps increase the public's knowledge of and access to information about chemicals at facilities in their area, how those chemicals are being managed, and if they are being released into the environment. States, Tribes, and communities, working with facilities, can use the information to improve chemical safety and protect public health and the environment. The data collected also help inform EPA’s efforts to better understand the listed substances.
EPA first proposed a rule to add a DINP category to the list of chemicals required to report to TRI in 2000, in response to a petition. The Agency also conducted a hazard assessment on DINP chemicals, which was later revised and again published for comment in 2005. In 2022, EPA agreed through a consent decree to either finalize a rule adding a DINP category to the TRI chemical list or withdraw the 2000 proposal. Accordingly, EPA published an updated TRI hazard assessment along with a supplemental proposed rule in 2022. With this final rule, EPA has now added a DINP category to the TRI chemical list.
Separately, DINP is also undergoing a risk evaluation required under section 6(b) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). TRI can provide information concerning releases and waste management activities that can be helpful to the TSCA risk evaluation process, as well as any related risk management activities.