Source reduction is activities designed to reduce the volume, mass, or toxicity of products throughout the life cycle.
The term is also used to describe measures to reduce or eliminate breeding places for disease-carrying mosquitoes.
Source reduction is achieved through improvements in design, production, use, reuse, recycling, and through environmentally preferable purchasing (EPP).
[3][4] In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission offers guidance for labelling claims: "Source reduction" refers to reducing or lowering the weight, volume or toxicity of a product or package.
To avoid being misleading, source reduction claims must qualify the amount of the source reduction and give the basis for any comparison that is made.