Waste prevention has been assigned the highest priority under European waste management law. However, the initiatives which have
been taken so far have not reduced the regular annual increase in total waste arising across Europe. The purpose of this paper is to quantify
and analyze in depth the prevention potential for selected case studies (advertising material, beverage packaging, diapers, food waste,
waste from events). Only such measures are considered, which do not require a reduction of consumption. The prevention potentials for
household waste in theory are exemplified for the city of Vienna, also with a view to barriers that may reduce the achievable prevention
potential. The results show that the prevention potentials for the analyzed individual measures can reach an order of magnitude of some
10% of the relevant waste stream (e.g., advertising material, beverage packaging), or rather 1–3% of municipal solid waste. The prevention
potentials appear to be relatively small in relation to the total municipal waste quantities. Methodological shortcomings, such as the
missing availability of basic data, make it difficult to exactly estimate the impact of waste prevention measures on waste quantities, which
is only one of the effects of waste prevention among other ecological, social and economic aspects.