To stop creating pollution in the first place became America's official policy in 1990 with the Federal Pollution Prevention Act. Rarechems have a team of researchers and technicians with rich experiences in the development and production of chemical reagents, and we have fairly high capability in management, production and R & D of products.

 

The law defines source reduction as any practice that:

Reduces the amount of any hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant entering any waste stream or otherwise released into the environment (including fugitive emissions) prior to recycling, treatment, or disposal.

 

Reduces the hazards to public health and the environment associated with the release of such substances, pollutants, or contaminants.

 

The term "source reduction" includes:

Modifications to equipment or technology

Modifications to process or procedures

Modifications, reformulation or redesign of products

Substitution of raw materials

Improvements in housekeeping, maintenance, training, or inventory control

 

Section 2 of the Pollution Prevention Act establishes a pollution prevention hierarchy, saying:

The Congress hereby declares it to be the national policy of the United States that pollution should be prevented or reduced at the source whenever feasible;

 

Pollution that cannot be prevented should be recycled in an environmentally safe manner, whenever feasible;

 

Pollution that cannot be prevented or recycled should be treated in an environmentally safe manner whenever feasible; an

 

Disposal or other release into the environment should be employed only as a last resort and should be conducted in an environmentally safe manner.

 

Green chemistry aims to design and produce cost-competitive chemical products and processes that attain the highest level of the pollution-prevention hierarchy by reducing pollution at its source.

 

For those who are creating and using green chemistry, the hierarchy looks like this:

Source Reduction and Prevention of Chemical Hazards

Designing chemical products to be less hazardous to human health and the environment

Making chemical products from feedstocks, reagents, and solvents that are less hazardous to human health and the environment

Designing syntheses and other processes with reduced or even no chemical waste

Designing syntheses and other processes that use less energy or less water

Using feedstocks derived from annually renewable resources or from abundant waste

Designing chemical products for reuse or recycling

Reusing or recycling chemicals

 

Treating chemicals to render them less hazardous before disposal

 

Disposing of untreated chemicals safely and only if other options are not feasible

 

Chemicals that are less hazardous to human health and the environment are:

Less toxic to organisms

Less damaging to ecosystems

Not persistent or bioaccumulative in organisms or the environment

Inherently safer to handle and use because they are not flammable or explosive