It is better to prevent waste than to treat or clean up waste after it is formed.
Chemical waste comes in many forms, including unreacted starting material, undesired byproducts and solvent waste. With the generation of such waste comes the associated costs of treatment and disposal. The more hazardous the waste and the greater the quantity, the greater the costs. A primary goal of Green Chemistry is to minimize the amount and severity of waste generated in chemical processes, thereby minimizing the associated costs.
This principle is perhaps the most obvious. As you learn about each principle, you will come to realize that when the other principles are practiced, it often also results in Pollution Prevention, Principle #1. For example, as we use less hazardous chemicals for various transformations (principle #3) we generate less hazardous waste and/or less waste. As we avoid the use of traditional organic solvents in synthetic transformations (principle #5), we can also avoid the disposal costs associated with organic solvents. This principle is the most widely practiced as it is tied to many of the other principles.
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