Pollution prevention seeks to eliminate the causes of pollution rather than treating waste.
Pollution prevention promotes continuous improvement through design, technical, operational and behavioural changes. It encourages the kinds of changes that are likely to lead to lower production costs, increased efficiencies and more effective protection of the environment. Many Canadian industries have already applied pollution prevention in their daily operations. Examples are presented below. Traditionally, parts removed from the coating machines were hand-washed in a large trough of solvent.