The Environmental Protection Agency recently proposed several changes to the Form R under the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) in an attempt to better organize data collection, after receiving feedback from stakeholders. Under the TRI program, companies are required to annually submit the Form R, which details their environmental releases and other waste management activities involving a specific list of tracked chemicals. EPA asserts that the proposed changes continue collecting the same information, merely in a different format. Specifically, the proposed format would only make changes to part II of the Form R, where information on releases and waste management activities are reported. The new format more clearly identifies the categories for reporting releases and waste management activities of toxic chemicals with descriptive labels instead of codes. Another notable change is that the new Form R will subcategorize information collected on releases into four areas: total onsite uncontained releases; total onsite contained disposal; total offsite uncontained releases; and total offsite contained disposal. EPA hopes that these changes will provide more clarity in the organization of data being collected. EPA published the notice in the Federal Register on July 1, 2003 explaining the changes and providing a revised form. The notice is part of an official Information Collection Request (ICR), a protocol in which the agency receives input and approval for the information collection procedures it proposes. This notice addresses a collection activity that is currently approved, but scheduled to expire on October 31, 2003. While renewing approval, EPA is proposing to revise the Form R in an effort to collect information in a more logical, simplistic manner. EPA is requesting comments on the proposed changes before submitting the new Form R to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act. The agency will be accepting comments from interested parties up to September 2, 2003.