Anaerobic Digestion: A series of biological processes in which microorganisms break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen.
Biodegradable Waste: Waste that can be broken down naturally by microorganisms into water, carbon dioxide, and biomass.
Bulky Waste: Large items of waste material, such as appliances, furniture, large automotive parts, which cannot be collected routinely.
Carbon Footprint: The total amount of greenhouse gases produced to directly and indirectly support human activities, usually expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide (CO2).
Clinical Waste: Waste produced from healthcare and similar activities that pose a risk of infection or are otherwise hazardous.
Composting: A biological process that decomposes organic waste such as food scraps and yard waste into a nutrient-rich soil amendment.
Contaminated Waste: Waste that contains hazardous substances which can pose a risk to health or the environment.
Demolition Waste: Waste debris from the demolition of buildings, roads, bridges, or other structures.
Downcycling: The process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of lesser quality and reduced functionality.
E-waste (Electronic Waste): Discarded electrical or electronic devices. Used electronics which are destined for reuse, resale, salvage, recycling, or disposal.
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR): Environmental protection strategy to reach an environmental objective of a decreased total environmental impact from a product, by making the manufacturer of the product responsible for the entire life-cycle of the product and especially for the take-back, recycling, and final disposal.
Fly-tipping: Illegal dumping of waste on land, contrary to the Environmental Protection Act.
Green Waste: Biodegradable waste that can be composed of garden or park waste, such as grass or flower cuttings and hedge trimmings.
Hazardous Waste: Waste that poses substantial or potential threats to public health or the environment.
Incineration: The process of burning solid waste under controlled conditions to reduce its volume and mass and generate energy.
Integrated Solid Waste Management: A comprehensive waste prevention, recycling, composting, and disposal program.
Landfill Gas: Natural by-product of the decomposition of organic material in landfills.
Landfill: A site for the disposal of waste materials by burial, which is the oldest form of waste treatment.
Leachate: Liquid that drains or 'leaches' from a landfill; it varies widely in composition regarding the age of the landfill and the type of waste.
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): A technique to assess environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a product's life from cradle to grave.
Material Recovery Facility (MRF): A specialized plant that receives, separates, and prepares recyclable materials for marketing to end-user manufacturers.
Methane Recovery: The process of collecting methane gas emitted from landfills or anaerobic digesters and using it to generate energy.
Municipal Solid Waste (MSW): Waste collected by municipalities from households, businesses, and public areas.
Non-biodegradable Waste: Waste that cannot be broken down by natural processes and remains in the environment for a long time.
Organic waste: Waste material that comes from plants or animals and is biodegradable, often originating from food waste, garden clippings, or other natural sources.
Plastic Pollution: The accumulation of plastic products in the environment that adversely affects wildlife, wildlife habitat, or humans.
Recyclable Materials: Materials that can be processed to be used again, typically within the manufacturing sector.
Recycling/reuse: The process of collecting and processing materials that would otherwise be thrown away as trash and turning them into new products. Reuse involves using items more than once for the same or a new purpose.
Refuse-derived Fuel (RDF): Fuel produced from various types of waste such as non-recyclable plastics (not including PVC), paper cardboard, labels, and other corrugated materials.
Resource Recovery: The extraction of useful materials or energy from waste streams.
Sanitary Landfill: A waste disposal site where waste is isolated from the environment until it is safe. It is considered when it has completely degraded biologically, chemically, and physically.
Single-stream Recycling: A system in which all recyclables are mixed in a collection truck, instead of being sorted into separate commodities by the depositor.
Solid waste: Non-liquid, non-soluble materials ranging from municipal garbage to industrial wastes that contain complex, and sometimes hazardous, substances. Solid wastes also include sewage sludge, agricultural refuse, demolition wastes, and mining residues.
Sorting Line: A facility where recyclable materials are separated from the waste stream based on their type and quality.
Special Waste: Waste that requires special handling and disposal methods due to its quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical, or biological characteristics.
Sustainability: Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Toxic Waste: Waste material that can cause death, injury, or birth defects to living creatures.
Upcycling: Reusing discarded objects or materials in such a way as to create a product of higher quality or value than the original.
Waste Audit: A systematic documentation of the types and amounts of waste generated at a facility aimed at reducing, reusing, and recycling waste.
Waste Broker: A legal entity that arranges for the disposal of waste without handling it directly.
Waste Collection: The process of gathering waste from households, businesses, and public spaces and transporting it to treatment and disposal facilities.
Waste Density: The amount of waste per unit of volume; a critical factor in the design and operation of modern sanitary landfills.
Waste Disposal: The final handling of solid waste, including the processes of disposal, incineration, landfilling, or recycling.
Waste Domestic sources: Waste generated from residential dwellings, which includes a wide variety of materials discarded by households.
Waste Encapsulation: A method of pollution control that involves encasing hazardous waste in a stable medium such as cement.
Waste Hierarchy: The classification of waste management strategies according to their desirability in terms of waste minimization.
Waste management: The collection, transportation, and disposal of garbage, sewage, and other waste products and processes to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal.
Waste Minimization: Processes and practices intended to reduce the amount of waste produced.
Waste non-domestic sources: Waste generated from commercial, industrial, and agricultural activities which includes waste from factories, restaurants, auto repair shops, and farms.
Waste prevention: Measures taken to reduce waste generation and toxicity, including changes in the design, manufacture, purchase, or use of materials or products to reduce their amount or toxicity before they become municipal solid waste.
Waste Segregation: The practice of separating waste into different types according to its type and potential for recycling or composting.
Waste Stream: The complete flow of waste from its domestic or industrial source through to recovery, recycling, or final disposal.
Waste-to-Energy (WtE): A process that generates energy in the form of electricity and/or heat from the primary treatment of waste.
Yard Waste: Plant material, such as leaves and grass clippings, collected from residential and commercial properties.
Zero Waste: A philosophy that encourages the redesign of resource life cycles so that all products are reused, and no trash is sent to landfills or incinerators.
