User:Ttrantow/Glossary of Recycling Terms

The following is a glossary of commonly used recycling terms. These terms are universally accepted and are common when referring to zero waste.

A

 * Abatement: The reduction in landfill pollution by source reduction and waste recycling (GRN).
 * Abatement Debris: Waste resulting from remediation activities (EPA).
 * Acrylonitrile butadiene stryrene (ABS): A copolymer that can be recycled (GRN).
 * Advanced disposal fee (ADF): A fee charged at the time of purchase. The funds usually go to support recycling and reduction programs (South Carolina).
 * Aluminum Beverage Containers (ABC): Containers containing no ferrous, steel or tin materials (GRN and Mass Recycle).
 * Administrative Waste: Waste produced from office related tasks (ZWA).
 * Arieation: The process of exposing composting material to the circulation of air (GRN and South Carolina).
 * Aerobic: Able to live and grow in the presence of free oxygen. Aerobic bacterial decomposition results in the conversion of organic wastes to compost (South Carolina).
 * Amalgamation: Process used by transfer stations that collect waste from smaller haulers, combine it with waste from other small haulers and transfer it in larger vehicles to disposal facilities. They may range from small municipal facilities to large commercial ones that process several hundred tons of waste a day (Mass Recylce).
 * Anaerobic: Able to live and grow only in the absence of free oxygen; anaerobic decomposition of organic wastes by bacteria results in the production and release of methane gas (South Carolina).
 * Aseptic Packaging: Packaging used to make drink boxes, usually single-serve containers for juice. The boxes are made of aluminum foil, plastic and paper (South Carolina).

B

 * Back-End System: Any of several processes for recovering resources from the organic portion of the waste stream (Ex.: fluid bed incineration; pyrolysis; composting; combustion; fiber reclamation) (GRN).
 * Bale: A compacted and bound block of recyclables (GRN and South Carolina).
 * Baler: A machine that compacts and binds recyclable materials, usually into blocks, to reduce volume and transportation. Blocks often are used on newspaper, plastics and corrugated cardboard (GRN and South Carolina).
 * Benefication: The mechanical processing of waste glass to decontaminate it and crush it to a more uniform size (GRN).
 * Best Available Practice(BAP): Methods and techniques that have consistently shown results superior than those achieved with other means, and which are used as benchmarks to strive for. There is, however, no practice that is best for everyone or in every situation, and no best practice remains best for very long as people keep on finding better ways of doing things.
 * Bimetal Can: A food or beverage can with a steel body and aluminum lid. Often used for fruit, vegetables and soup, bimetal cans are 100% recyclable by the steel industry (GRN and South Carolina).
 * Bioconversion: A general term describing the conversion of one form of energy into another by plants or microorganisms. An example is the digestion of solid wastes or sewage sludge by microorganisms to form methane (South Carolina).
 * Biodegradable: Capable of being broken down by microorganisms into simple, stable compounds such as carbon dioxide and water (GRN and South Carolina).
 * Bleaching: Method used in the paper-making process to produce a bright white paper sheet. The bleach produces dioxins (GRN).
 * Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD): The amount of oxygen needed for aerobic microorganisms to function in organic-rich water such a sewage (GRN and South Carolina).
 * Bond Paper: A high grade of paper usually used for forms, offset printing, copy paper, stationery, etc (Mass Recycle).
 * Bottle Bank: Containers meant to receive beverage bottles that people drop off to be recycled (GRN).
 * Bottle Bill: A law requiring deposits on beverage containers (GRN and South Carolina).
 * Bottom Ash: The ash produced from incineration that must be disposed of in a landfill (South Carolina).
 * Boxboard: Paperboard used for fabricating boxes. Different boxboard grades are classified as to the composition of the top liner, filler (middle layer), and back liner (GRN).
 * Broker: Agent or intermediary between the sellers and buyers of recyclable material (EPA, GRN and South Carolina).
 * Bulky Waste: Items that are large enough to warrant special collection services separate from regular residential curbside collection (EPA).
 * Buy-Back Center:  Recycling facility that purchases small amounts of secondary materials from the public (GRN).
 * Buy-back Program: Programs that buy recyclables from the public (South Carolina).
 * By-Products:

C

 * Capture Rate: The percentage of generated secondary materials actually recovered from a household or business (Mass Recycle).
 * Carbon Sequestration: The uptake and storage of atmospheric carbon; for example, in soil and vegetation (EPA).
 * Cellulose Insulation: Insulation commonly used in construction and manufactured from waste paper (primarily newsprint) processing, with the addition of chemicals acting as retardants to fire or fibre breakdown (GRN).
 * Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs): An organic compound that contains carbon, chlorine, and fluorine, produced as a volatile derivative of methane and ethane (GRN).
 * Closed-loop Recycling: A system in which materials are continually recycled into the same product. Examples include aluminum cans and glass bottles (Mass Recycle and South Carolina).
 * Co-Collection: The collection of bagged recyclables together with other municipal garbage, separated later for recycling or disposal (GRN).
 * Collection and Demolition Waste (C & D Waste):
 * Collector: An individual or company that picks up recyclable materials that have been set aside for recycling; also can refer to an individual or company that collects trash for disposal (Mass Recycle).
 * Co-mingled Containers: Mixed recyclables that are collected or processed together (GRN).
 * Comminution: Mechanical shredding or pulverizing of waste; used in solid and water waste treatment (GRN).
 * Compactor: Equipment that densifies recyclable material and contains it under pressure, not allowing it to expand until it is unloaded (GRN).
 * Compost: A mixture of garbage, degradable trash and soil in which bacteria in the soil break down the mixture into a soil conditioner (not a fertilizer). It has high organic content but low nitrogen (GRN).
 * Compostables: Include food wastes, leaves, Christmas trees and yard waste (Mass Recycle).
 * Consumer Price Index (CPI): Measures the change in the cost of typical wage-earner purchases of goods and services, expressed as a percentage of the cost of these same goods and services in some base period (EPA).
 * Containerboard: The component materials used in the fabrication of corrugated cardboard (GRN).
 * Contamination: Refers to the sullying, soiling and ruination of one material by another; when one recyclable material is mixed with another undesired material, the recyclable material is thus considered contaminated (Mass Recycle).
 * Corrugated Paper: Paper or cardboard manufactured in a series of wrinkles or folds or into alternating ridges and grooves (South Carolina).
 * CPO Paper: Computer Print Out Paper (Mass Recycle).
 * Cradle to Cradle:
 * Cradle-to-Grave: A system that manages solid waste from creation to disposal. In product design, it refers to the product's creation from raw or recycled materials through manufacturing, use, consumption and disposal (GRN).
 * Crusher: A mechanical device used to break secondary materials into smaller pieces (GRN).
 * Cryogenic Size Reduction: Process in which flexible substances are made brittle by cooling to extremely low temperatures, using liquid nitrogen and ground rubber (GRN).
 * Cullet: Crushed glass which can be added to a batch of new materials in the manufacturing of new glass products. It increases the rate of heat gain by batch and reduces fuel costs. Domestic cullet if produced in house during the manufacturing process. Foreign cullet if it comes from an external source (GRN).
 * Cyclical System:

D

 * Degradability: Ability of materials to break down, by bacterial (biodegradable) or ultraviolet (photodegradable) action (GRN).
 * Deinking: A process that removes inks, dyes or other contaminants from collected wastepaper (GRN).
 * Design for the Environment (DFE):
 * Dioxin: Chlorinated organic compound: a by-product of the paper-making process that uses chlorine as a bleaching agent. Dioxins can be released into the atmosphere through the incineration of chlorinated paper. They are believed to be highly toxic to humans (GRN).
 * Disposal Facilities: Facilities that are either incinerators or landfills, either in state or out-of-state, either public or private. Each type of facility has a permit that details its operating requirements, including the amount of waste it can process in a day or year.  Each takes wastes either by a contractual arrangement or on what is known as the 'spot' market, which means that someone just shows up and asks if the facility can take, or 'tip', the waste for (typically) a higher fee (Mass Recycle).
 * Diversion Credits: A financial incentive provided to municipalities or private recycling operations based on the tonnage diverted from the waste stream (GRN).
 * Diversion Rate: A measure of the amount of waste being diverted from the municipal solid waste stream, either through recycling or composting (South Carolina).

E

 * End User: Refers to facilities that purchase or secure recovered materials for the purpose of recycling. Examples include recycling plants and composting facilities. Excludes waste disposal facilities (EPA).
 * Endpoint Goal:
 * Exothermics: Materials used to generate heat in chemical or other processes (GRN).
 * Extended Producer Responsibility: Manufacturers are held responsible for the waste and environmental impact their product and packaging creates, rather than passing that responsibility on to the consumer. The end result is that manufacturers redesign products to reduce materials consumption and facilitate reuse, recovery and recycling (GRN).
 * Extraction:

F

 * Full Cost Accounting (FCA): The process of collecting and presenting information - about environmental, social, and economic costs and benefits/advantages (collectively known as the 'triple bottom line') - for each proposed alternative when a decision is necessary.
 * Ferrous Metals: Refers to magnetic metals derived from iron (steel). Products made from ferrous metals include major and small appliances, furniture, and containers and packaging (steel drums and barrels). Examples of recycling include processing tin/steel cans, strapping, and ferrous metals from appliances into new products (GRN).
 * Fly Ash: A fine residue, left after trash is burned in an incinerator, which can be carried in the air. It can contain harmful or toxic substances such as dioxins, lead and mercury (GRN).
 * Front End Separation: A system in which certain materials removed from the waste stream are directed toward a specific recovery system such as recycling or waste-to-energy incineration (Mass Recycle).

G

 * Grasscycling: Source reduction activity whereby grass clippings are left on the lawn after mowing (Mass Recycle and EPA).

H

 * High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE): A recyclable, non-toxic plastic product used to make plastic bottles, milk cartons, detergent containers and other products. Constructed from ethylene molecules in long chains with few side branches, the standard plastic code is #2 (GRN, Mass Recycle, South Carolina and EPA).
 * High Grade: Refers to types of paper such as computer printout, copy paper, white ledger and tab cards found in offices, homes, schools and other sources (GRN and EPA).
 * Highest and Best Use:
 * Humus: The substance which results from decay of plant or animal matter. Biodegradable matters form humus as they decompose (GRN).

I

 * Incentives:
 * Industrial Ecology: The objective, multidisciplinary study of industrial and economic systems and their linkages with fundamental natural systems.
 * Industrial Metabolism: First proposed by Robert Ayres as ‘‘the whole integrated collection of physical processes that convert raw materials and energy, plus labor, into finished products and wastes…’’.
 * Integrated Solid Waste Management: The complementary use of a variety of practices to manage solid waste safely and effectively. Integrated waste management techniques include source reduction, recycling, composting and landfilling (South Carolina).
 * Intermediate Processing Center: Facility that separates, cleans and bails or packages materials for sale to manufacturers or brokers (GRN).

L

 * Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): A systematic set of procedures for compiling and examining the inputs and outputs of materials and energy and the associated environmental impacts directly attributable to the functioning of a product or service system throughout its life cycle.
 * Leaching: Process by which soluble materials are dissolved and carried through the soil by a percolating liquid.
 * Life Cycle: All stages of a product's development, from extraction of fuel for power to production, marketing, use, and disposal.
 * Linear Wasting System:
 * Liner: Barrier designed to prevent the leaching of contents from a landfill. Commonly comprised of plastic or dense clay (GRN).
 * Low Grade Paper: Less valuable types of paper such as mixed office paper, corrugated cardboard and newspaper (GRN).

M

 * Mandate Recycling: Programs that by law require certain recycling practices or results.
 * Mass Balancing:
 * Materials Flow:
 * Materials Recovery Facility (MRF): A recycling facility that sorts and processes collected mixed recyclables into individual streams for market. Also known as an intermidiate processing center (IPC) (GRN).
 * Midden: A pit in which trash or garbage is buried. Usually only organic garbage (GRN).
 * Mulching: The natural and gradual decomposition of dead organic matter that has been evenly distributed in a thin layer on the ground (GRN).
 * Municipal Solid Waste (MSW): Residential and commercial trash and/or garbage generated by a particular municipal area (GRN).

N

 * New Scrap: Material which is discarded during a manufacturing or processing operation and which cannot be directly fed back to that operation (GRN).
 * Newsprint: Alternate term for the low grade paper used to make newspaper (GRN).
 * Non-Ferrous Scrap Metal: Metals which contain no iron, such as aluminum, copper, brass and bronze (GRN).

O

 * Old Newspaper (ONP): Paper that is usually used in newspapers. ONP has two major sub-grades.  No. 8 is sorted newspapers only.  No. 6 may have some magazines mixed in and maybe tied in bundles or gathered in brown bags (Mass Recycle).

P

 * Paper Stock: Scrap or waste papers that have been sorted and baled into specific grades. It is commonly used interchangeably with the term waste paper (GRN).
 * Paperboard: General term for heavyweight grades of paper that are used for containers, boxes, cartons and packaging materials. It is divided into: Containerboard, Boxboard and Other Paperboard (GRN).
 * Pay-as-you-throw (PAYT): A system in which residents pay for each unit of waste discarded rather than solely through a fixed fee per residential household or property tax.Also known as unit-based pricing or variable rate pricing (Mass Recycle).
 * Perforator/Flattener: Equipment that perforates and flattens material, then ejects it into a receptacle or processor. Used to prevent plastic bottles from expanding after flattening (GRN).
 * Photodegradable: A process where ultraviolet radiation degrades the chemical bond or link in the polymer or chemical structure of a plastic. Ability of materials to break down, by bacterial (biodegradable) or ultraviolet (photodegradable) action (GRN).
 * Pollution Prevention (P2): The reduction of waste and its associated pollution at the source by material substitutions or process modifications that generate less hazardous waste or less waste (South Carlina).
 * Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET or PETE): A clear or colored transparant plastic often used to make soft drink bottles, food packaging containers (such as ketchup bottles) and some household cleanser containers. Referred to in the standard plastic code as #1 (GRN and South Carolina).
 * Polypropylene (PP): A plastic with a smooth surface that cracks easily when bent and is difficult to scratch. Created by linking propylene molecules, it is hard to collect in marketable queantities for recycling and has limited uses in recycled form. Used for flexible rigid packaging, dairy tubes, lids and straws, its standard plastic code is #5 (GRN, South Carolina, and EPA).
 * Polystyrene (PS): A lightweight plastic material that cracks easily when bent. Used to make containers and utensils it can also be expanded to create the material referred to as "Styrofoam". Takes up a large part of landfill space because of its bulk. Its standard plastic code is #6 (GRN, Mass Recycle, and South Carolina).
 * Polyvinyl Chloride(PVC): A recyclable plastic used to make a wide range of products. Environmentally indestructible, the standard plastic code for PVC is #3 (GRN, Mass Recycle, South Carolina, and EPA).
 * Pre-Consumer Waste: Recovered materials produced in manufacturing and converting processes such as scraps, trimmings or overruns. Waste generated before the product reaches the consumer (GRN, South Carolina, and EPA).
 * Postconsumer Recovered Fiber: Paper, paperboard, and fibrous wastes from retail stores, office buildings, homes, and so forth, after they have passed through their end-usage as a consumer item, including: used corrugated boxes; old newspapers; old magazines; mixed waste paper, tabulating cards; and used cordage.
 * Potential Resource:
 * Precautionary Principle: When information about potential risks is incomplete, basing decisions about the best ways to manage or reduce risks on a preference for avoiding unnecessary health risks instead of on unnecessary economic expenditures.
 * Precycle: Source reduction option whereby evaluation and selection of items for purchase is dependent upon method of manufacture, product content and recyclability of product after consumer use (GRN).
 * Primary Materials: Virgin or new materials, such as wood pulp and iron ore, used in making products (South Carolina).
 * Process Mapping:
 * Producer Responsibility: The duty of manufacturers or producers to be responsible for their products when these eventually become waste, e.g. by taking them back from consumers.
 * Product Life Cycle:
 * Product Stewardship: Product stewardship is a principle that directs all participants involved in the life cycle of a product to take shared responsibility for the impacts to human health and the natural environment that result from the production, use and end-of-life management of the product. The greater the ability of a party to influence the life cycle impacts of a product, the greater the degree of that party’s responsibility. The stakeholders typically include manufacturers, retailers, consumers, and government officials.
 * Production Waste:
 * Pulp: A soft, moist, sticky mass of fibers made of wood straw, etc., and used to make paper and paperboard (Mass Recycle and South Carolina).

R

 * Reclamation: Transformation of solid waste into useful products, such as soil conditioners or recycled materials (GRN).
 * Recovered Fiber:
 * Recovery: Refers to the diversion of materials from the municipal solid waste stream for the purpose of recycling or composting. Excludes reuse and source reduction activities such as yard trimmings diverted to backyard (onsite) composting or the repair of wood pallets (EPA).
 * Redemption Program: Refers to a program where consumers turn in recyclable materials to the original supplier for monetary compensation (GRN and EPA).
 * Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF): Fuel produced from separating, shredding, dehydrating and incinerating solid waste (GRN and South Carolina).
 * Refuse Reclamation: Transformation of solid waste into useful products, such as soil conditioners or recycled materials (GRN).
 * Regrind: Ground up recyclable plastics (GRN).
 * Residual Product: Amount of a pollutant remaining in the environment after a natural or technological process has taken place; e.g., the sludge remaining after initial waste water treatment, or particulates remaining in air after it passes through a scrubbing or other process.
 * Residuals: Waste materials left after recovery of recyclables and/or the physical, chemical, or biological processing of wastes (Mass Recycle).
 * Resource Recovery: The extraction and use of materials or energy from discarded materials, usually through high technology processes (GRN and South Carolina).

S

 * Setout Rate: A measurement of how successful a curbside recycling program is: Number of households on a route that put out recycling bins on a given collection day.  This differs depending on collection frequency.  Weekly programs have a lower setout rates than bi-weekly ones, since not all households use every collection day.  Setout rates are lower than participation rate, as it measures activity on one day, while participation rate measures activity over a longer time (Mass Recycle).
 * Solid Waste: Refuse that can include all matters of materials originating from industrial, demoliton, mining and agricultural activities (GRN, Mass Recycle and South Carolina).
 * Source Reduction: The design, manufacture, purchase, or use of materials to reduce the amount or toxicity of materials before they enter the municipal solid waste management system. Behavior that deliberately reduces waste through educated consumer choices and disposal (Mass Recycle, South Carolina and EPA).
 * Source-Separated: Separating recyclable materials at the source, such as at home or office, to reduce the amount of material that enters the waste stream (GRN and South Carolina).
 * System View:
 * Systems Understanding:
 * Systematic Approach:

T

 * Tipping Fee: The charge placed on individuals for the process of unloading waste or recyclables at a landfill or recycling facility (GRN, Mass Recycle and South Carolina).
 * Thermoplastics (TPO): Plastics that can be re-formed repeatedly by application of heat and pressure (GRN).
 * Tons Per Day (TPD): Used as a measurement of the solid waste disposal rate at a landfill, incinerator or materials recovery facility (South Carolina).
 * Toter: A two wheeled, lidded, plastic container of either 64 or 96 gallons in size that is used to store recyclables or trash until collection (Mass Recycle).
 * Transfer Station: An intermediate facility where waste and recyclables are taken from collection vehicles, consolidated and then transferred onto larger transport vehicles (Mass Recycle, South Carolina and EPA).
 * Triple Bottom Line: Financial, social, and environmental effects of a firm's policies and actions that determine its viability as a sustainable organization.
 * True Cost Accounting:

U

 * Unit Based Pricing: See Pay-As-You-Throw
 * Universal Wastes: A class of hazardous wastes from large and small generators which accumulate in such quantity that special systems have been set up to deal with them. Currently they include: non-alkaline batteries, pesticides, thermostats, mercury containing devices, and fluorescent lamps (tubes or compacts) (Mass Recycle).
 * Used Beverage Container (UBC): An acronym for used beverage container, usually plastic soda bottles and aluminum cans (South Carolina).

V

 * Variable Rate: See pay-as-you-throw.
 * Vermicomposting: The production of compost using worms to digest organic waste (Mass Recycle and South Carolina).
 * Virgin Product: Refers to products that contains no recycled materials. Also known as raw materials, which include timer or metal ore (Mass Recycle and South Carolina).
 * Volume Reduction: Processing waste materials to decrease the amount of space the materials occupy. It is accomplished by mechanical, thermal or biological means (GRN).

W

 * Waste Assessment: The review of processes to identify options that will result in either the generation of less waste or the productive recycling of materials that would otherwise be added to the waste stream (South Carolina).
 * Waste Audit: Process of inventoring the different types and quantities of items in the waste stream produced at a specific location (Mass Recycle and South Carolina).
 * Waste Ban: Regulations that ban the items listed below from disposal by any means other than recycling.  The waste bans are enforced on incinerators, landfills, transfer stations, haulers and commercial generators.  The requirements banning landfilling or incineration of these materials are articulated in the Solid Waste Regulations at 310 CMR 19.017.  Currently, the materials so banned include: lead acid batteries, leaves and yard waste, whole tires at landfills, white goods, aluminum containers, metal, plastic, or glass containers, recyclable paper and cardboard, and cathode ray tubes (Mass Recycle).
 * Waste Exchange: A program that helps companies offer their waste by-products to another firm that may be able to utilize these wastes (GRN and South Carolina).
 * Waste-Heat Recovery: Recovering heat discharged as a byproduct of one process to provide heat needed by a second process.
 * Waste Stream: A facility where recovered municipal solid waste is converted into a usable form of energy, usually through combustion (Mass Recycle and South Carolina).
 * Waste to Energy Facility: A facility where recovered municipal solid waste is converted into a usable form of energy, usually through combustion (South Carolina and EPA).
 * White Goods: Major appliances such as refrigerators, stoves, water heaters, air conditioners and washing machines (GRN and EPA).
 * Windrowing: The placement and management of compostable material in piled rows, where micro-organisms break down organic material into a finished compost product (GRN).

Z

 * Zero Waste: Zero Waste is a goal that is both pragmatic and visionary, to guide people to emulate sustainable natural cycles, where all discarded materials are resources for others to use. Zero Waste means designing and managing products and processes to reduce the volume and toxicity of waste and materials, conserve and recover all resources, and not burn or bury them. Implementing Zero Waste will eliminate all discharges to land, water or air that may be a threat to planetary, human, animal or plant health.