Canadian Council of Ministers
of the Environment
Le Conseil canadien des ministres
de l'environnement
Resources
Pollution Prevention
CCME recognizes that minimizing or avoiding the creation of pollutants and wastes can be more effective in protecting the environment than treating them, or cleaning them up after they have been created.
In 1993 CCME published A National Commitment to Pollution Prevention in which a series of principles were laid out to guide pollution prevention in Canada. This was followed in 1996 by A Strategy to Fulfill the CCME Commitment to Pollution Prevention.
Pollution prevention is particularly beneficial because it:
- accelerates the reduction and/or elimination of pollutants;
- minimizes health risks;
- promotes the development of source reduction technologies;
- uses energy, materials and resources more efficiently;
- minimizes the need for costly enforcement;
- limits future liability with greater certainty; and
- avoids costly clean-up in the future.
An example of CCME work on pollution prevention in action is the Canada-wide Standard for Mercury-Containing Lamps, which calls for reductions in the mercury content of fluorescent lamps.