The U.S. EPA publicly recognizes those companies that make voluntary commitments to pollution prevention. To enhance their public image companies are implementing and publicizing pollution prevention activities. Measurement criteria for management systems like ISO 14000 can also be improved by implementing pollution prevention. Barriers to Pollution Prevention Despite the incentives, a variety of perceived or actual barriers exist. Barriers exist in the current institutional, economic and financial structures and in informational and regulatory frameworks.
Economic factors can be substantial barriers.
Many firms have an insufficient capital base for investing in source reduction technologies. Many firms operate on a time horizon that is too short to realize significant economic benefits from pollution prevention activities. In many organizations, pollution costs are still treated as overhead, when they should be allocated to individual products or cost centers. This reduces the incentive to invest in pollution prevention. Firms that develop preventive technologies may be reluctant to share their trade secrets with competitors.