The Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 requires the Environmental
Protection Agency to establish an Office of Pollution
Prevention, develop and coordinate a pollution prevention
strategy, and develop source reduction models. The act requires
owners and operators of manufacturing facilities to report
annually on source reduction and recycling activities, and
authorizes EPA to collect data collection on pollution
prevention. Enactment of the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990
marked a turning point in the direction of U.S. environmental
protection policy. From an earlier focus on the need to reduce
or repair environmental damage by controlling pollutants at the
point where they are released to the environment — i.e., at the
“end of the pipe” or smokestack, at the boundary of a polluter’s
private property, in transit over public highways and waterways,
or after disposal — Congress turned to pollution prevention
through reduced generation of pollutants at their point of
origin. Broad support for this policy change wa