Source reduction is activities designed to reduce the volume, mass, or toxicity of products throughout the life cycle. It includes the design and manufacture, use, and disposal of products with minimum toxic content, minimum volume of material, and/or a longer useful life. The term is also used to describe measures to reduce or eliminate breeding places for disease-carrying mosquitoes.

Synonyms

Pollution prevention and toxics use reduction are also called source reduction because they address the use of hazardous substances at the source.

Examples

* Reusable packaging - for example the use of a reusable shopping bag at the grocery store; although it uses more material than a single-use

disposable A disposable (also called disposable product) is a product designed for a single use after which it is recycled or is disposed as solid waste. The term is also sometimes used for products that may last several months (e.g. disposable air filt ...

bag, the material per use is less. * Overpackaging - Some packaging uses more materials than is necessary for product containment and protection. Redesign can often reduce the size and materials usage in packaging.

Procedures

Source reduction is achieved through improvements in design, production, use, reuse, recycling, and through environmentally preferable purchasing (EPP). A

Life-cycle assessment Life cycle assessment (LCA), also known as life cycle analysis, is a methodology for assessing the impacts associated with all the stages of the life cycle of a commercial product, process, or service. For instance, in the case of a manufact ...

is useful to help choose among several alternatives and options.

Source reduction in the United States

In the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, the

Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) United States antitrust law, antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. It ...

offers guidance for labelling claims: "Source reduction" refers to reducing or lowering the weight, volume or toxicity of a product or package. To avoid being misleading, source reduction claims must qualify the amount of the source reduction and give the basis for any comparison that is made. These principles apply regardless of whether a term like "source reduced" is used. The

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

Toxics Use Reduction Program (TURA) offers six strategies to achieve source reduction: * Toxic chemical substitution * Production process modification * Finished product reformulation * Production

modernization Modernization theory or modernisation theory holds that as societies become more economically modernized, wealthier and more educated, their political institutions become increasingly liberal democratic and rationalist. The "classical" theories ...

* Improvements in operations and maintenance * In-process recycling of production material

References

External links