Abatement is a general term used for methods or technologies that reduce the amount of pollutant generated in a chemical or other manufacturing facility. In contrast, the terms cleanup and remediation refer to removal or appropriate disposal of the pollutants after they have been generated; these methods are also often referred to as end-of-the-pipe treatment. Current industrial practice places more emphasis on abatement (also known as pollution prevention) and follows the following simple rule: "If you don't make it, you don't treat it."

Pollution abatement involves source reduction, in-process recycling, in-plant recycling, design modifications, off-site recycling, and treatment to make the waste less hazardous. Source reduction refers to the examination of various processing units in detail to determine if wastes can be minimized. The step involves several layers of study: (1) Waste inventory is generated. (2) Critical processes leading to waste are identified. (3) Alternative processing strategies are studied to reduce...