Today, pollution control and pollution prevention have very distinct connotations. The consensus is that traditional pollution control methods simply transfer pollutants from one medium to another and therefore do not go far enough to protect all components of our environment. Pollution prevention, on the other hand, suggests an approach that goes to the heart of the problem and tries to eliminate it. This column gathers and categorizes the various definitions of pollution prevention included in legislation, as well as pollution prevention programs, at the state and local level.