TERMS AND DEFINITIONS:

Baler:  Machine used to compact recyclables into bundles to reduce volume. Paper products, corrugated cardboard, plastics, and aluminum and steel cans are commonly baled.

Bi-Metal Container:  Any
metal container that contains at least two different metals such as a steel-bodied can with an aluminum top.

Boxboard:  Paper product used for office supply, cereal, cracker and shoe boxes, usually made from mixed
waste paper. Not to be confused with corrugated cardboard.

Co-mingling:  The mixing of materials during collection.

Compactor:  Machine used to compress materials to a smaller volume.

Composting:  The controlled process whereby organic materials are biologically broken down and
converted into a stabilized humus material.

Computer Paper:  Also known as CPO, or computer print-out. High quality white paper used either with tractor-feed or single sheet printers.  May have blue, green or other color stripe printed on surface, but the basic fiber color is white.

Construction:  Any waste resulting from construction, remodeling, and/or repair

Consumption:  The amount of any resource (material or energy) used in a given time.

Contaminant:   Material that is harmful or undesirable to the recycling process when it is included with a recyclable material. 

Container Rental:  Monthly fee for having a compactor or dumpster on-site.

Corrugated Cardboard (OCC):  Also known as cardboard box, and commonly used as a shipping container. Paper product made of unbleached kraft fiber, with two heavy outer layers and a wavy inner layer to provide strength.

Cullet:  Container glass that has been sorted, crushed, and cleaned for glass factory furnaces to be manufactured into new containers.

Demolition Debris:  Demolition operations on pavement, buildings, or other structures.  Waste that includes lumber, drywall, concrete, pipe, brick, glass, electrical wire, and rubble.

Disposal:  Management of solid waste through land-filling, incineration, or other means at permitted solid waste facilities.

Disposal Cost Savings:   Economic savings from reduced waste hauling operational expenses and avoided disposal facility tipping fees.

Diversion Rate:  The amount of all materials recycled as a percentage of the municipal solid waste stream.
 

EcoPurchasing:   A source reduction strategy used by purchasing managers to select products that create the least amount of waste and toxicity.

Ferrous Metals:  Metal containing iron (such as steel) in sufficient quantities to allow for magnetic separation.

 

Food Waste: 
 Organic, vegetable, or animal food wastes resulting from food
preparation, storage, or serving activities.

 

Gaylord:  A 1.4 cubic yard
cardboard container used to store loose materials.

 

Generation Data: 
 Information on waste amounts derived from actual waste materials produced
- usually determined by assessing waste bin on-site.

 

Generator:   An
individual, company, organization or activity that produces wastes or
recyclable materials.

 

GHG:   Greenhouse
Gas Emissions



Hauler:  A company that
collects garbage and/or recyclable materials.

 

Hazardous Waste:  Waste
requiring special precaution in its use, collection, storage, transportation,
treatment, or disposal to prevent injury to human health or the environment.
Includes flammable, corrosive, ignitable, reactive, toxic, radioactive,
volatile and pathological materials.

 

HDPE:  High-density
polyethylene, or #2 plastic. A plastic resin used for the manufacture of milk
jugs, laundry product containers, margarine and butter tubs, and some plastic
bags.



Landfill:  A land waste
disposal site that is designed to minimize water pollution from run-off and
leaching.



Ledger:   A paper
category that includes most office paper, such as letterhead, computer paper,
copier bond, and notebook paper.



Market:  A business or industry
that accepts recyclable materials for further processing or final manufacturing
into new products.



Materials Exchange:  See
Waste Exchange



Mixed Paper:  Types
of paper that are not included in the high-grade category, such as envelopes,
manila folders, junk mail, greeting cards, wrapping paper, glossy inserts,
catalogs, and magazines.



Municipal Solid Waste: 
 That portion of the waste stream that includes residential waste,
commercial/institutional waste, and some light industrial waste. It does not
include hazardous waste, radioactive waste, medical waste, or heavy industrial
waste.



Non-ferrous Metal: 
 Scrap metal that a magnet will not attract, such as aluminum, copper,
lead, zinc, brass, precious metals, and other alloys.



Pallet:   A wooden platform
placed underneath large items so they may be picked up and moved by a forklift.



PET:  Polyethylene
terephthalate or #1 plastic. Clear plastic resin used in the manufacture of
soda and liquor bottles, and some food containers, such as peanut butter jars.

 

Postconsumer Waste: 
 Waste materials generated by businesses or households.

 

Pre-consumer Waste: 
 Waste, scrap, or off-cuts from industrial and manufacturing processes (it
has not been used by businesses or households).

 

Processing:  Operations
performed to make recyclable materials more marketable. Processing may include
sorting, baling, grinding, pelletizing or crushing.

 

Pull or Haul Fee: The charge
for collecting and transporting waste to a waste disposal facility.

 

Recyclable Material: 
Those materials that are capable of being recycled and which would otherwise be
discarded as solid waste.

 

Recycled Content:  That
part of a product which has been manufactured using pre-consumer or
postconsumer recycled material.

 

Recycling:  The process by
which materials otherwise destined for disposal are collected, remanufactured,
and purchased.

 

Reuse:  The use of a
product more than once in its same form for the same or similar purpose.

 

Roll-Off:  A special truck
which deposits and picks up a 10-to-50-cubic yard container at a site.

 

Secondary Materials:
 Recyclable materials such as waste paper and scrap metal.

 

Sludge:   Solid or
semi-solid residue resulting from waste water treatment or industrial
processes.

 

Solid Waste Management:
 The administration of activities that provide for the collection,
storage, transportation, processing, treatment and disposal of solid waste.

 

Source Reduction:
 Strategies that reduce the total amount and/or toxicity of the materials
entering the waste stream.  Also referred to as ?waste prevention.?

 

Source Separation:  The
process of segregating various materials by type at the point of generation in
order to manage them through recycling, composting or other waste handling
system.

 

Special Waste:  Solid wastes/recyclables
that can require special handling and management, such as used motor oil, whole
tires, white goods, mattresses, lead-acid batteries, furniture and medical
wastes.

 

Tin Cans:  Food and
beverage cans with steel bodies that are plated with tin.  More correctly
referred to as steel cans.

 

Tipping Fee:  Charge for
dumping (?tipping?) a container of waste at a landfill, incinerator or other
waste disposal facility. The fee is usually dollars per ton.

Virgin Materials:  Natural
resources, such as oil, timber, natural gas, and minerals that are extracted from the earth, as opposed to secondary materials that have already been used at least once.

 

Waste Assessment:  An
on-site assessment of the waste stream and recycling potential of an individual
business, industry, institution, or household.

 

Waste Exchange:  Two or
more companies exchange materials that would otherwise be discarded. It may
also be an organization with electronic and/or catalog networks to match
companies that want to exchange their materials.

 

Waste Prevention:  See
?Source Reduction.?

 

Waste Stream:   The
total flow of solid waste generated by a business, industry, institution,
household, or municipality. Components of the waste stream are reduced by
implementing source reduction, reuse, recycling, and composting techniques.

 

White Goods:  Large
appliances such as refrigerators, stoves, water heaters, washers, dryers, and
air conditioners that are made of enameled metal.

Yard Waste:   The portion of the waste stream consisting of vegetative matter resulting from landscaping, maintenance and land clearing operations, such as leaves, grass clippings, brush, tree trimmings, and garden wastes.