Canada’s National Pollutant Release Inventory: 2023 data highlights

Data collected by the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) is essential for observing pollution patterns and trends across Canada. Since 1993, the NPRI has collected comprehensive data from industrial facilities, tracking releases to the air, water and land, as well as the management and transfer of pollutants. Year after year, facilities meeting NPRI reporting requirements must report. Please note that quality control activities and facility reporting updates may impact the data presented. The data used in this analysis is from October 10th, 2024, providing current perspective on the pollution situation.

2023 data at a glance

In 2023, 7,579 facilities declared their emissions to the NPRI, reporting approximately 4.99 million tonnes of pollutants, covering over 300 substances:

• Of these emissions, 2.82 million tonnes were released directly to the environment, including, air, water, and land.

• 1.75 million tonnes were disposed of by landfilling, tailings management, waste rock management, or injected underground, either on the facility site or off-site.

• 397,889 tonnes were transferred off-site for treatment prior to final disposal or for recycling and energy recovery.

Between 2014 and 2023, reported releases to the environment decreased by 565,600 tonnes (17%). Total disposals and transfers increased by 646,188 tonnes (42%) in that period.

Other releases

In some instances, Canadian facilities report total releases of substances: these are releases where the environment (i.e., air, water, land) of the release is unspecified. This category applies only to certain substances in the NPRI and only where the total release quantity was less than one tonne. 

Between 2014 and 2023, these types of releases decreased by 137 tonnes (34%).

Disposals and transfers for recycling

In 2023, of the 4.99 million tonnes of total substances reported, disposals of substances (i.e., on-site and off-site), and transfers for recycling accounted for approximately 2.17 million tonnes, or 44% of the total.

The disposal of substances in tailings, including residual materials from minerals extraction, accounted for 850,298 tonnes of the 2.17 million tonnes reported to the NPRI. Between 2014 and 2023, disposals of substances in tailings increased by 153,789 tonnes (22%). 

As for the disposal of substances in waste rock, made up of rocks removed to reach ore, it accounted for 256,036 tonnes of the 2.17 million tonnes of disposals and transfers for recycling reported to the NPRI. This figure increased by 151 876 tonnes (150%) between 2014 and 2023. This increase is mainly due to higher quantities of substances reported by the mining and quarrying sector.

Other disposals (i.e., on-site and off-site) accounted for 447,765 tonnes and 220,639 tonnes of the 2.17 million tonnes reported, respectively. On-site disposals increased by 168,884 tonnes (61%) between 2014 and 2023 and off-site disposals increased by 122,408 tonnes (125%) over the same period.

Off-site transfers for recycling and treatment accounted for 397,889 tonnes of the 2.17 million tonnes reported for 2023 disposals and transfers. Between 2014 and 2023, this figure increased by 49,230 tonnes (14%).

Note: For better understanding, it is important to note that in some cases there may be a duplication of the quantities of substances declared. This situation occurs when the same substance is transferred off-site to a specialized waste management site and subsequently transferred to a final disposal site, resulting in double counting. As a result, a substance maybe counted multiple times for a single release if reports from different facilities involved in waste management are combined. For more information, please visit the Guide for using and interpreting National Pollutant Release Inventory data.

Map of facilities reporting to the NPRI for 2023, by industry sector

Note: This map shows the NPRI reporting facilities for 2023 (7,579 facilities), excluding those that did not meet the reporting criteria (1,051 facilities).

Regional overview

Pollution prevention plans

Pollution prevention involves identifying and finding ways to minimize the causes of waste and pollution.  A facility’s pollution prevention plan includes an examination of current operations and steps to eliminate or reduce pollution at its source. 

1,043^{Footnote 1}  reporting facilities had pollution prevention plans in place in 2023. Of these plans:

• 616 were prepared voluntarily
• 427^{Footnote 2}  were prepared to meet the requirements of provincial or territorial governments (e.g., requirements of a notice under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999)

Pollution prevention activities

3,505 facilities (44% of reporting facilities) reported having at least one P2 activity. There are eight categories of pollution prevention activities that facilities can report taking. For 2023, the most common activity category was “Good operating practice or training”, with 2,705 facilities that had this activity. The second most common activity was “Spill and leak prevention”, with 671 facilities that had this activity.

Activities reported by sector for 2023

To learn more about pollution prevention, and for examples of actions facilities have implemented, see how your business can prevent pollution.

Pollution prevention activities were implemented for 156 substances (51% of substances reported to the NPRI) in the 2023 reporting year. The substances with the greatest number of pollution prevention activities implemented are Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs).

4,454^{Footnote 3}  facilities (56% of reporting facilities) declared not having implemented activities in the 2023 reporting year. Barriers to implementation included:

^{Footnoteunknown or unavailable alternatives (1,260 facilities)}

• Unknown or unavailable alternatives (1,272 facilities)

• Additional activities being unnecessary or unfeasible at this time (1,115 facilities)

• Insufficient understanding of pollution prevention (467 facilities)

• Insufficient capital (459 facilities)

• Limits due to regulatory or permit obligations (147 facilities)

• Concern that product quality may decline as a result of activities (107 facilities)

  Other reasons (1,198 facilities)

Access NPRI data

Download the complete NPRI data in various formats from the Government of Canada open data portal and the NPRI datasets webpage.

For any additional information or if you have any questions regarding the data, do not hesitate to contact us via email at inrp-npri@ec.gc.ca.

Don’t miss this opportunity to discover and explore these valuable resources for a comprehensive understanding of the current environmental situation.

Source: NPRI data as of October 10th, 2024.