School District Diversion Report 2000: Appendices

Glossary

Cardboard: Paper product made of unbleached craft paper, with two heavy outer layers and a wavy inner layer to provide strength.

Commercial Sector (Nonresidential): Commercial sector waste comes from all businesses, small and large, including wholesale and retail sales, restaurants, manufacturing, and transport. The commercial sector also includes government, schools, institutions, fairs and expositions, and other special events. It may also include the subdivision of commercial self-haul, which would include any waste generated by a business and hauled by that business to a CIWMB-permitted landfill or transformation facility (e.g., a roofing company that routinely hauls to the landfill old roofing materials removed from job sites). Commercial self-haul would also include small businesses that haul odd loads for a living. The commercial, residential, and self-haul sectors make up the complete waste stream.

Composting: The process of collecting, grinding, mixing, piling, and supplying sufficient moisture and air to organic materials to speed natural decay. The finished product of composting operations is compost, a soil amendment suitable for incorporating into topsoil and for growing plants. Compost is different than mulch, which is a shredded or chipped organic product placed on top of soil as a protective layer.

Construction and Demolition (C&D) Debris: Building materials and solid waste from construction, deconstruction, remodeling, repair, cleanup, or demolition operations that is not "hazardous" (as defined in Public Resources Code Section 40141). This term includes, but is not limited to, asphalt, concrete, Portland cement, brick, lumber, wallboard, roofing material, ceramic tile, plastic pipe, and associated packaging.

Deconstruction: The process of taking apart a structure with the primary goal of preserving the value of all useful building materials, so that they may be reused or recycled.

Disposal: For diversion purposes, disposal is all waste created by all businesses and residents which is disposed at CIWMB-permitted landfills or at transformation facilities, or is exported from the state. The CIWMB tracks tons of waste disposed by each jurisdiction using its disposal reporting system.

Diversion: For waste measurement purposes, diversion is any combination of waste prevention (source reduction), recycling, reuse and composting activities that reduces waste disposed at CIWMB-permitted landfills and transformation facilities. Diversion is achieved through the implementation of diversion programs.

Generation: The total amount of waste produced by a jurisdiction. The basic formula is disposal plus diversion equals generation.

Grasscycling: The practice of leaving grass clippings on the lawn while mowing allowing the nutrients to return to the soil.

Jurisdiction: A city, county, a combined city and county, or a regional agency with the responsibility for meeting Integrated Waste Management Act requirements.

Materials Exchange Program: Programs in which two or more companies exchange materials that would otherwise be discarded. Programs may also be managed by organizations using electronic and/or catalogue networks to match companies that want to exchange their materials.

Materials Recovery Facility: More commonly called a MRF (pronounced "murf"). An intermediate processing facility designed to remove recyclables and other valuable materials from the waste stream. A "dirty MRF" removes reusable materials from unseparated trash. A "clean MRF" separates materials from commingled recyclables, typically collected from residential or commercial curbside programs.

Organics: Materials that are or were recently living, such as leaves, grass, agricultural crop residues, or food scraps. Please see CIWMB's waste characterization materials and organics web sites.

Precycling: Making purchasing decisions that will reduce waste such as buying goods with less packaging (e.g., goods in bulk or concentrated form), choosing products that will last longer, and avoiding single-use or disposable products.

Procurement Program: Programs that encourage the purchase of recycled-content products and environmentally preferable products by companies, jurisdictions and others. Joint recycled-content product purchasing pools and buy-recycled campaigns are two examples.

Recycled-Content Product (RCP): A product that has been manufactured using preconsumer or postconsumer recycled material.

Recycling: Per Public Resources Code Section 40180, the process of collecting, sorting, cleansing, treating, and reconstituting materials that would otherwise become solid waste, and returning them to the economic mainstream in the form of raw material for new, reused, or reconstituted products that meet the quality standards necessary to be used in the marketplace.

Reuse: The recovery or reapplication of a package or product for uses similar or identical to its originally intended application, without manufacturing or preparation processes that significantly alter the original package or product.

Source Reduction: Any action, which causes a net reduction in the generation of solid waste. Source reduction includes, but is not limited to, reducing the use of non-recyclable materials, replacing disposable materials and products with reusable materials and products, reducing packaging, reducing the amount of yard wastes generated, establishing garbage rate structures with incentives to reduce waste tonnage generated, and increasing the efficiency of the use of paper, cardboard, glass, metal, plastic, and other materials. The term "source reduction" is synonymous with waste prevention.

Tipping Fee: The fee charged for unloading solid waste at a landfill or transfer station.

Transfer Station/Processing Facility: A facility which receives, handles, separates, converts, or otherwise processes solid waste, whose activities are governed by the Registration Permit tier or Full Solid Waste Facility Permit requirements. Such facilities typically transfer solid waste directly from one container to another or from one vehicle to another for transport, or temporarily store solid waste prior to final disposal at a CIWMB-permitted landfill or transformation facility.

Transformation: Incineration, pyrolysis, distillation, gasification, or biological conversion of waste by means other than composting.

Vermicomposting: The process whereby worms feed on slowly decomposing materials (e.g., vegetable scraps) in a controlled environment to produce a nutrient-rich soil amendment (also referred to as "worm composting").

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

Waste Characterization: The act of determining the types and amounts of materials in the disposed waste stream. Waste characterization studies typically involve the sorting and weighing of samples of disposed waste.

Waste Diversion: Please see Diversion.

Waste Generation: Please see Generation.

Waste Prevention: Please see Source reduction.

Waste Reduction: The combined efforts of waste prevention, reuse, recycling, and composting practices.

Waste Stream: Waste material output of a business, industry, institution, community, region, or state.

Xeriscaping: The practice of landscaping using slow-growing, drought-tolerant plants.

See the CIWMB glossary of terms and solid waste terms and definitions for additional information.

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Last updated: September 18, 2008