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Pollution prevention (P2) opportunities can be identified by the industry sector, product, or production process that is related to your business. Pollution prevention can be accomplished by any of the following five methods.

1. Product Design/Material Selection--Product design is a process of synthesis in which product attributes such as cost, performance, manufacturability, safety, and consumer appeal are considered together. Product design for P2 incorportates environmental objectives with minimum loss to the product's performance, useful life, or functionality. (U.S. Congress--OTA)

2. Process Design--Process designers consider production attributes such as cost productivity, end-part manufacturability, and operator safety when designing a production process. Process design for P2 incorporates environmental objectives with minimum loss to the production process: stability and productivity in particular.

3. Process Improvement/Material Substitution--Production process improvements for P2 are considered after the process equipment is already in place. Although this continuous method of improvement yields varying degrees of success, it is a viable option to incorporate pollution prevention into an already existing process.

4. Energy Conservation--Energy conservation minimizes power plant emmissions through the efficient use of energy in the production process by minimizing pollution offsite at the power plant.

5. Environmental Management Systems--Environmental management systems identify pollution prevention opportunities in order to implement one of the above P2 methods.