Florida Department of Environmental Protection

Fact Sheet: Definition of Pollution Prevention

A pollution prevention fact sheet that defines pollution prevention.

Definition of Pollution Prevention

Pollution Prevention is a process improvement that can be classified in one of the following three categories:

Source Reduction

This involves eliminating the source of pollution. Chemicals or processes that produce pollution are eliminated or replaced with chemicals or processes that cause less pollution. The ideal situation is to produce goods with no pollution. This has the most benefit for the environment, and usually requires the greatest change in the production process. Source reduction can be as sweeping as deciding to end production of products that cannot be manufactured without pollution. It can be as mundane as eliminating an unneeded cleaning step. Other examples are:

• Replacing a vapor degreaser with a recirculating, water based cleaning process.
  
• Using darker wood to eliminate solvents in ordinary staining.
  
• Using UV cure paint to eliminate the solvents in ordinary paint.
  
• Using a painted or plastic surface instead of chrome plating such as in lawnmower handles and the "euro-look" cars and bumpers.
  
• Eliminating the release of CFC by sending parts to be sterilized to a plant that can use pure ethylene oxide instead of the more common ethylene oxide/CFC mix.
  
• Keeping stock out of the weather to eliminate cleaning between processes.
  
• Having a vendor use a no clean rust inhibitor on incoming parts.
  
• Using a low vapor pressure solvent instead of acetone to clean fiberglassing tools.

Waste Minimization

This involves conserving materials that are the source of the pollution. This is done when losses of chemicals to the environment are reduced. The ideal here is a no loss process. Waste minimization can be as expensive as replacing a regular vapor degreaser with one that has an airlock that the parts must pass through to be cleaned. It can also be as simple as using large, refillable containers to reduce the amount of material that is disposed of on the walls of the emptied containers. Other examples are:

• Using High Volume Low Pressure paint guns in place of standard high pressure paint guns in a painting line to reduce paint loss.
  
• Using electrostatics with painting to reduce paint loss.
  
• Keeping containers of liquids covered and cool to minimize evaporation.
  
• Using processes less likely to produce spills.
  
• Using rollers instead of sprayers to reduce evaporation loss from atomization.
  
• Adjusting floating lid tanks to keep fixed volume tanks full, reducing evaporation.
  
• Using counter current rinsing to reduce water use.
  
• Reducing dragout to minimize chemical depletion.

On-site Recycling

This involves reusing materials that are the source of pollution. Process chemicals are reused directly or are revived in some manner and reused in either the original or some other process without leaving the facility. The ideal is total reuse of materials. On-site recycling could be as complex as an ion exchange system. It could be as simple as a batch solvent still. Other examples are:

• Using a cart that rolls up to a vehicle, filters oil or coolant and returns the clean fluid.
  
• Using a solvent still to clean solvent for reuse.
  
• Filtering machining fluids for reuse.
  
• Installing a paint gun cleaner that filters and recirculates the cleaning solvent.
  
• Using electrowinning to remove the metals from plating rinse water, allowing the water to be reused.
  
• Capturing solvent vapors from printing operations for distillation and reuse.

What we call pollution prevention is called other names in other professions:

• Accountants call it loss control.
  
• Process engineers call it an efficient process.
  
• Managers call it total quality management.
  
• People unaccustomed to long definitions call it common sense.

Pollution prevention does NOT include:

• Off-site recycling such as:
  
• Sending used process water to be reused at a golf course
  
• Sending used motor oil or coolant off-site for reclamation or incineration
  
• Off-site solvent recovery
  
• Regeneration of ion exchange columns

• Treatment such as:
  
• Waste water treatment to remove contaminants prior to disposal
  
• Evaporation to remove water from contaminants
  
• Sludge de-watering to reduce volume
  
• Air stack scrubbers
  
• Catalytic incinerators to remove VOCs from air

• Disposal such as:
  
• Landfilling
  
• Incineration

- in the Jacksonville area, call 904-448-4300, or
- in the Tampa area, call 813-744-6100.