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Beyond Waste Glossary

This glossary is intended to provide definitions for terms and acronyms that may be unfamiliar to the reader. Other more common terms in the solid or hazardous waste arenas (such as waste reduction, waste recycling, solid waste, hazardous waste, etc.) are not included in this glossary, but definitions can be accessed at RCW 70.95.030 and RCW 70.105.010.

Architecture 2030

A non-profit organization that challenges the global architecture and building industry to reduce fossil fuel use in buildings and achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 by changing the way buildings and developments are planned, designed, and constructed. www.architecture2030.org/

Bioenergy and Biofuels

A renewable energy or fuel source that comes from biomass - recently living organisms or their metabolic by-products, available on a renewable basis (as opposed to fossil fuels, which are derived from long-dead biological material). The biomass can be derived from dedicated energy crops and trees, agricultural food and feed crops, agricultural crop wastes and residues, wood wastes and residues, aquatic plants, animal wastes, municipal wastes, and other waste materials.

Biosolids

Municipal sewage sludge that is a primarily organic, semisolid product resulting from the wastewater treatment process and can be beneficially recycled. Biosolids meet all requirements under Chapter 70.95J RCW.

BuiltGreen

A residential green building certification program. The program is administered through regional Homebuilding Associations across Washington. Certification checklists are specialized to suite the environmental conditions of the regions they serve. www.builtgreenwashington.org

Byproduct synergy

The principle underlying by-product synergy is that one industry's waste can be another’s primary resource. It applies principles of industrial ecology to work together to match unwanted by-products as resources for new products and processes. This simple idea has great potential for reducing waste and toxins, as well as cutting operating costs.

CAT

The Climate Action Team was a governor sponsored, multi-stakeholder team tasked with coming up with actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. www.ecy.wa.gov/climatechange/2008CAT_overview.htm

CEI

The consumer environmental index measures how consumption patterns influence pollution. The CEI uses expenditure patterns and calculates the cumulative environmental impacts from consumer choices. This includes impacts from manufacturing and the total supply chain. www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/swfa/swac/docs/SWAC2008JanCEIbackground.pdf

CESQG

A Conditionally Exempt Small Quantity Generator generates 220 pounds or less of hazardous waste per month. The term Small Quantity Generator (SQG) can also be used. Hazardous waste generated by a CESQG is exempt from the Dangerous Waste Regulations if certain conditions are met. http://apps.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?cite=173-303

CFLs

Compact fluorescent lamps or compact fluorescent lights are a type of fluorescent lamp typically designed to replace an incandescent lamp. They provide a comparable amount of light but generally use less power and have a longer rated life. Like all fluorescent lamps, CFLs contain mercury, which complicates their disposal.

Closed-loop

A cycle or system where secondary materials (wastes) are reclaimed and recycled back into the process from which they were originally generated.

Complete costs

Costs that include internal costs (all transactions tracked using traditional accounting methods and practices), future costs, and external costs (those such as environmental, societal, and health costs not accounted for by traditional accounting methods and practices), so that all costs are included.

Corrective action

A process to guide the cleanup of unauthorized releases at hazardous waste management facilities.

CPG

The Department of Ecology’s Coordinated Prevention Grants help local governments develop and implement their hazardous and solid waste management plans. These grants are awarded once each biennium.

Downcycling

Recycling that results in a lower value use or re-use of resources such as composting paper rather than recycling it into new paper.

E-Cycle Washington

Washington’s producer-funded recycling program for computers, monitors, laptops and televisions. www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/swfa/eproductrecycle/index.html

Environmental Justice

The fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.

Environmental Management Systems (EMS)

A comprehensive, integrated, and systematic approach toward managing an organization's interaction with the environment.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

A federal agency that leads the nation’s environmental science, research, education, and assessment efforts. Created in 1970, EPA’s mission is to protect human health and the environment.

Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP)

Also known as green or responsible purchasing, the procurement of products or services that cause less harm to human health and the environment when compared with competing products or services that serve the same purpose. This comparison may consider raw materials acquisition, production, manufacturing, packaging, distribution, reuse, operation, maintenance, or disposal of the product or services.

Feedstock

Materials needed to produce a product in a manufacturing process. Feedstocks can be virgin raw (new) materials or secondary (recovered or recycled) materials from the same or another process.

Green building

Design or construction practices that significantly reduce or eliminate the negative impact of buildings on the environment and occupants in the areas of site selection, conservation of materials and resources, energy efficiency, water efficiency, and indoor environmental quality.

Green chemistry

The invention, design, and application of chemical products and processes to reduce or to eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances.

Household hazardous waste (HHW)

Any waste that exhibits the properties of dangerous wastes, but is exempt from the Dangerous Waste Regulations solely because it is generated by households.

HWTR

The Hazardous Waste and Toxics Reduction Program of the Washington State Department of Ecology.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

IPM programs use current, comprehensive information on the life cycles of pests and their interaction with the environment. This information, in combination with available pest control methods, is used to manage pest damage by the most economical means, and with the least possible hazard to people, property, and the environment.

Large quantity generator (LQG)

A business, organization, industrial facility, or other type of establishment that creates 2,200 pounds or more of hazardous waste per month. Generator status is based on the amount of dangerous waste generated each month. Annual reporting, waste shipment manifesting, and management requirements are different for each generator status.

Lean manufacturing

A new manufacturing and production philosophy that emphasizes systemic elimination of waste from all aspects of an organization’s operations. Waste is viewed as any use or loss of resources that does not lead directly to creating the product or service a customer wants on demand.

LEED

The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System™ is a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. www.usgbc.org/leed/leed_main.asp

Living Building

The Living Building was developed by the Cascadia Region Green Building Council. It is considered the most sustainable green building standard on the market. www.ilbi.org/the-standard

MMFA (Also WMMFA)

The Washington Materials Management and Financing Authority is the manufacturer authority created by state law to handle the recycling of certain electronics in the state of Washington. www.wmmfa.net/

Medium quantity generator (MQG)

A business, organization, industrial facility, or other type of establishment that creates more than 220 pounds but less than 2,200 pounds of hazardous waste per month.

Moderate-risk waste (MRW)

The term used to describe the combined hazardous waste stream made up of Conditionally Exempt Small Quantity Generator (CESQG) Waste and Household Hazardous Waste (HHW). MRW is exempt from regulation as hazardous waste.

Natural yard care

Natural yard care emphasizes alternatives to pesticides, using water and fertilizer judiciously, planting the right plant in the right place, preserving healthy soil conditions, and proper lawn grass management.

Non-point source pollution

Pollution that occurs when rainfall, snowmelt, or irrigation runs over land or through the ground, picks up pollutants and deposits them into rivers, lakes, and coastal waters or introduces them into groundwater. These pollutants come from common, wide spread activities in urban and rural areas.

Organic materials

Substances and products of biological origin that have the potential to be returned to the soil, turned into biofuels, bioenergy, or other products. Organic materials include landscaping and yard waste, food waste, manures, crop residues, wood, soiled/low-grade paper, and biosolids.

Pollution prevention (P2)

The use of processes or practices that reduce or eliminate the use of hazardous substances and the generation of wastes at the source.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)

A group of more than 100 different chemicals. Some occur as a by-product of burning organic substances like coal, oil, gas or garbage and end up as soot. Others PAHs are manufactured and used to make products ranging from roofing tar to medicines, from plastics to pesticides. Animal studies have linked PAHs to reproductive problems and weakened immune systems.

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)

Toxic flame-retardants used in many products including carpets, insulation, upholstery, and computers.

Persistent bioaccumulative toxins (PBTs)

Naturally occurring and man-made substances that build up in the food chain and can affect human health and reproduction. These toxins travel long distances in the atmosphere, move readily from land to air and water, and do not break down easily. PBTs include mercury, dioxins, DDT, and PCBs.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)

chlorinated compounds that have been used as coolants and lubricants in transformers, capacitors, and electrical equipment because they don’t burn easily and are good insulators. The manufacture of PCBs was halted in the U.S. in 1977 because the build up in the environment and are known to cause cancer in animals.

Public Participation Grants (PPGs)

Department of Ecology’s Public Participation Grants provide funding to citizen groups and not-for-profit public interest organizations to provide public involvement in monitoring the cleanup of contaminated sites and prevent pollution by reducing or eliminating waste at the source.

Product stewardship

Achieved when those who produce, sell, use, or dispose of a product assume responsibility for the product’s environmental, social, and economic costs throughout the product’s life cycle. www.ecy.wa.gov/sustainability/Resources/prod_steward.htm

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)

A common thermoplastic resin, used in a wide variety of manufactured products. Many vinyl products contain additional chemicals to make PVC flexible, which may leach out of vinyl products. Dioxin and vinyl chloride are also created in the production of PVC and can cause severe health problems.

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)

The federal law passed in 1976 that set standards for managing hazardous wastes and encouraging recycling over disposal. RCRA also includes the federal standards for solid waste landfills.

REACH

A 2007 European regulation on chemicals and their safe use. It deals with the registration, evaluation, authorization, and restriction of chemical substances. REACH gives greater responsibility to industry to manage risks from chemicals. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/reach/reach_intro.htm

Small quantity generator (SQG)

A business, organization, industrial facility, or other type of establishment that creates 220 pounds or less of hazardous waste per month. The term Conditionally Exempt Small Quantity Generator (CESQG) can also be used. Hazardous waste generated by a SQG is exempt from the Dangerous Waste Regulations if certain conditions are met. http://apps.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?cite=173-303

Sustainability

Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Technical Nutrients

Materials such as glass, paper, cloth, plastic, and metal that are often recyclable and can be processed for use as feedstocks in the production process. These materials make up a large portion of the solid waste stream.

Technical Nutrient Cycle

A system for collecting and processing technical nutrients, such as metals, plastics and glass, ideally a closed-loop of manufacturing, reuse, and recovery. The cycle maintains the value of technical nutrients and minimizes the downcycling of these nutrients into lower value products and uses.

Toxics or toxic substances

A general term that refers to hazardous substances and hazardous wastes that have the properties to cause or significantly contribute to death, injury, or illness of humans, animals, or other living things.

Toxic Reduction Advisory Committee (TRAC)

A legislatively mandated stakeholder advisory committee that created a report and recommendations on business hazardous waste creation, technical assistance, and fees.

Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (TSCA)

Provides EPA with the authority to require reporting, record-keeping and testing requirements, and restrictions relating to chemical substances and/or mixtures. TSCA addresses the production, importation, use, and disposal of specific chemicals. Certain substances are generally excluded from TSCA, including food, drugs, cosmetics, and pesticides.

Treatment, storage, or disposal (TSD)

A facility that has authorization from the Department of Ecology to conduct hazardous waste management activities.

W2R

Waste 2 Resources Program, formerly the Solid Waste & Financial Assistance Program of the Washington State Department of Ecology.

 

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