Each year the Department of Environmental Protection, with TURI and the Office of Technical Assistance, summarizes the data that has been reported under the Toxics Use Reduction Act and releases it to the public.  The report shows the number of filers and chemicals per year, the amount of toxics use reduction progress, and the top 20 chemicals and companies used.

The latest data show continuing toxics use reductions by Massachusetts companies in the TURA program. The total amount of toxic chemicals reported used in 2009 (and reported in 2010) by companies subject to TURA reporting, was 881 million pounds.  

Adjusting for production from 2000 to 2009, decreases include:

• Toxic chemical use by 21%
• Toxic byproducts by 38%
• Toxics shipped in product by 21%
• On-site releases of toxics to the environment by 56%
• Transfers of toxics off-site for further waste management by 23%

New Websites for TURI and the UMass Lowell!

Find Solutions at TURI.org

New TURI website

See research, resources, and case studies - at web pages on Training, Grants, Business Programs, Toxic Chemicals, Green Cleaning, Home and Community, Research and Chemicals Policy.

The goal is usability and clarity. We are very excited and hope you agree this is an improvement.  Please take a look and tell us what you think!

Work to create this website has been coordinated with the new UMass Lowell website.  Take a look! This university has been ranked among the top 200 research universities nationally, and has educated many engineering and business leaders in the state.

Resources Conservation (RC) Training Day 1

New Candidates for RC Certification

The event was held at the Doyle Center, which has been registered for LEED gold certification.

This session introduced new RC planners to use of TUR planning techniques to address water, energy, solid waste and toxics in articles. The RC Day 1 event fulfills six of the 12 credits required in order to certify a RC Plan. The other 6 credits may be in any asset area of resource conservation and can be fulfilled by attending RC Day 2 on Dec. 6.

Presenters were Mark Myles, Pam Eliason, and Liz Harriman of TURI, and Lynn Cain of Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) in Leominster, Oct.18. A tour of the Doyle Center showed renewable materials, composting toilets, xeriscape landscaping,  geothermal heating and cooling system and 2,000 square feet of photovoltaics.

RC Training Day 2 will be on Dec.6, and will be open to all TUR Planners interested in deeper information on these topics, networking with peers, and continuing education credits.  Consider registering now!

TURI Staff Activities

Gregory Morose presented on "GC3 Alternatives Assessment for Plasticizers in Wire and Cable" on August 24th at the U.S. EPA "Design for the Environment" kick-off meeting for their new Phthalate Alternatives Assessment initiative.