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Laws and Policy
The Pollution Prevention Act established the national policy that pollution should be prevented or reduced at the source whenever feasible. Preventing pollution offers important economic benefits, as pollution never created avoids the need for expensive investments in waste management or cleanup.
- Current Pollution Prevention Mandates in Federal Statutes
The Pollution Prevention Act is multi-media; in this context multi-media refers to water, air and land. Source reduction practices do not focus on treatment and disposal of waste from one media, such as air. Instead source reduction seeks to eliminate pollutants in all media- water, air and land. This page lists relevant sections in other media laws- such as the Clean Air Act - which are relevant to implementing pollution prevention practices.
Policies and Other Governing Documents
Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP)
Executive Orders dealing with pollution prevention are being implemented under the Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) program. The Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Policy and Guidance page explains how EPP seeks to assist in the identification and acquisition of environmentally preferable products and services for Executive agencies who are now mandated to adopt environmentally preferable purchasing under Executive Order 13101 -- Greening the Government through Waste Prevention, Recycling, and Federal Acquisition.
Federal Environmental Executive
President Bill Clinton's 1993 Executive Order 12873, Federal Acquisition, Waste Prevention, and Recycling, created the position of the Federal Environmental Executive, as well as Agency Environmental Executives. These positions were specifically intended to bolster support for recycling and the procurement of recycled-content products. This order also set the standard that all federal office paper is to contain at least 30 percent post-consumer recycled content. President Clinton named Fran McPoland as the first Federal Environmental Executive.
- Executive Order 12873 - Federal Acquisition, Recycling and Waste Prevention (PDF) (8 pp, 34.4K, About PDF)
- Executive Order 13101 - Greening the Government Through Waste Prevention, Recycling, and Federal Acquisition
- Executive Order 13148 - Greening the Government Through Leadership in Environmental Management
Pollution Prevention Policy Statement - New Directions for Environmental Protection, Carol M. Browner - EPA Administrator. June 15, 1993.