Pollution Prevention Overview

Abstract

The passage of the pollution prevention act of 1990 has redirected industry’s approach to environmental management; pollution prevention has now become the environmental option of this decade and the 21st century. Whereas typical waste management strategies concentrate on “end-of-pipe” pollution control, pollution prevention attempts to handle waste at the source (i.e., source reduction). Pollution prevention techniques must be evaluated through a thorough consideration of all media, hence the term “multimedia”. This approach is a clear departure from previous pollution treatment or control techniques where it was acceptable to transfer a pollutant from one source to another in order to solve a waste problem. By performing a material balance in conjunction with a pollution prevention assessment, the amount of waste generated becomes known. The success of the pollution prevention program can therefore be measured by using this information on baseline generation rates (i.e., that rate at which waste is generated without pollution prevention considerations).