Environmental pollutants that are persistent (P), bioaccumulative (B), and toxic (T) can be eliminated or reduced through use of one or more strategic or remedial processes. These processes and strategies all revolve around the principles of source elimination and use reduction, for which guidance documents are being prepared at a steady pace.

For example, both old and modern technical criteria have been discussed by the Greenpeace International (Costner et al., 1998) for the elimination of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), which many are potential endocrine disruptors and represent a majority of the PBTs. While the traditional technologies rely on storage, burial, and combustion as the means, the modern methods tend to use chemical treatments. These chemical treatments include: gas-phase chemical reaction; base catalyzed dechlorination; plasma arc; catalytic hydrogenation; supercritical water oxidation; molten salt/metal; and electrochemical oxidation.

Recently, a more conceptual strategy has been suggested by the World Health Organization for the elimination and the reduction of POP pesticides in the environment (Morner et al., 2002). Integrated pest management and integrated vector management were the two approaches suggested in the strategy, whereby the focus is on alternatives to POP pesticides.

According to Pew Ocean Commission in the USA (Boesch et al., 2001), sewage sludge and other wastes have been greatly reduced over the past 30 years due to the Clean Water Act and other federal statutes. It is also the Commission’s conclusion that "Advances in waste treatment (technology) have kept ahead of increases in the volume of waste (produced)."