The vast majority of OECD member countries acknowledge the existence of a waste management hierarchy and place waste prevention at the top of the hierarchy (1) While support for waste prevention is strong, it has proved somewhat difficult to devise effective ways to foster waste prevention. The adoption of targets has been a prominent feature of many efforts to foster environmental improvements. Perhaps the best known example of targeting involves the emissions of greenhouse gases. In the waste management area, targets have been an important element of efforts to improve national-level recycling, and to reduce the disposal of particular waste streams such as packaging.(2) Adoption of targets could enhance the status of waste prevention, and so foster its adoption. This paper addresses the development of a strategic framework for setting national-level, waste prevention targets. Discussion of a strategic framework is not meant to imply that there is a single set of goals which would be appropriate for all OECD member countries, or which would remain unchanged over time. Selection of targets, as well as the ways to meet them, may vary by country and change over time. The paper builds on past OECD efforts, particularly the discussion of targeting at the 1996 OECD Workshop in Berlin. (3) The paper begins by reviewing key features of waste prevention which are relevant to target-setting. Next, the paper describes the structure of waste prevention targets. Setting targets involves a number of choices. The paper discusses these choices in detail, and indicates the different types of waste prevention targets which can result from different choices. As this discussion shows, the proposed structure for waste prevention targets provides a strategic framework for target- setting. Using the structure of waste prevention targets as a framework, the paper addresses a number of questions relevant to the process of waste prevention target-setting.