Glossary of Terms Part 1
Aeration: To charge with air.
Beautify: To make an area more beautiful; actions such as picking up litter in the community and planting flowers and trees beautify an area.
Bimetal: Made of two metals; used particularly in reference to bimetal beverage cans which are made of both aluminum and steel.
Biodegradable material: Waste material which is capable of being broken down, usually by bacteria, into basic elements; most organic wastes, such as food remains and paper, are biodegradable under the right conditions.
Biodegrade: to break down into basic components by biological processes.
Cleanup: The act of picking up littler in an area.
Closed-loop recycling: The complete cycle of collecting, processing, recycling, and purchasing, products with recycled content.
Combustible: Waste material which is capable of being burned.
Commingled: A mixture of any number of recyclable materials, which usually must be separated before they can be recycled.
Compost: A mixture of decomposing organic matter (e.g., food waste, leaves, and lawn clippings) used to improve the physical properties of the soil.such as texture and aeration; compost in not a fertilizer.
Composting: The controlled biological decomposition of organic solid waste under aerobic (in the presence of oxygen) conditions; organic waste materials are transformed into soil amendments such as humus or mulch.
Containerize: To put waste into a proper receptacle, such as a trash can, trash bag or dumpster; properly containerizing waste prevents in form becoming a problem as litter.
Decompose: To break down into basic components.
Disposable: Products that are designed to be thrown away after one use.
Dispose: to get rid of waste; throw away.
Dump: An open land site where waste is deposited; unsightly and possibly harmful due to leaching of toxic substances into surrounding groundwater; often incorrectly used as a synonym for sanitary landfill.
Energy recovery: Synonym for Waste-to-energy ( See waste-to-energy).
Environment: Everything that surrounds and influences living organisms.including people, animals, plants, soil, water, weather, buildings, etc.
Ferrous metal: Of or containing iron.
Garbage: Refuse consisting food wastes; animal and vegetable wastes resulting from the handling, storage, sale, preparation, cooking, and serving foods.
Graffiti: Crude inscriptions or drawings on a wall or other public surface.
Groundwater: Water stored in the porous spaces of soil and rock underground; more that half of the people of the United States depend upon groundwater for their drinking water.
Habit: An action a person does over and over again without thinking; litter is a bad habit.
Household hazardous waste: Products used in the home that contain substances that are listed or that exhibit the characteristics of hazardous wastes as defined by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA): Toxic, corrosive, ignitable or reactive.
Illegal dumping: Disposing of waste in an improper manner and/or locations and in violation of waste disposal laws.
Impermeable: Cannot be penetrated.
Incinerate: To burn solid waste; used in energy recovery processes.
Integrated solid waste management: A practice of disposing of solid waste that utilizes several complementary components, such as source reduction, recycling, composting, waste-to-energy and landfill.
KAB: Abbreviation for Keep America Beautiful, Inc. A national, nonprofit, public education organization dedicated to improving waste handing practices in American communities.
Landfill: More correctly termed “sanitary landfill”; a land site where waste is deposited, compacted, and covered with soil (Sanitary landfill).
Leachate: A liquid resulting from precipitation percolating through landfills containing water, decomposed wasted and bacteria; in sanitary landfills leachate is collected and treated to prevent contamination of water supplies.
Light-weighting: The process by which a product is made using less materials that its precursors without compromising its integrity; this often results in the conservation of resources required to manufacture the product.
Litter: human generated solid waste that is discarded in an inappropriate place (e.g., streets, playgrounds, streams, etc.) or improperly stored waste which has escaped from its container.
Litter prevention: Activities designed to encourage people to not litter.
Litterbug: Term used to fa person who litters.
Littering: The act of discarding solid waste in an inappropriate place (any place other than a proper trash receptacle); mishandling waste.
MRF: Abbreviation for Materials Recovery Facility, a system that separates collected, mixed residential recyclables by type so that they can be recycled into new products for the market.
MSW: Abbreviation for municipal solid waste; includes non-hazardous waste generated in households, commercial establishments, institutions, and light industrial establishments; excludes industrial process wastes, agricultural wastes, mining wastes, and sewage sludge.
Methane: a colorless, orderless, flammable gas formed by the decomposition of wastes in a landfill.
Microbes: Microorganisms.
NIMBY: Acronym for “Not In My Back Yard”, orginally referred to the syndrome where people oppose the siting of a sanitary landfill in their neighborhood; now can also refer to the siting of other waste management facilities, such as a waste-to-energy plant.
Non-combustible: Waste materials which are not capable of being burned. especially metals.
Non-Point source pollution: Pollution from many different sources, usually associated with rainfall runoff moving over or through the ground, carrying natural or man-made pollutants into surface water and groundwater.
Organic: Derived from living organisms; organic wastes include food, leaves grass clippings, etc.
Packaging: A product’s covering, wrapping, or container designed to protect a product and to attract purchasers.
Photo-degrade(-able): A process of whereby the sun’s ultraviolet radiation attacks the link in the polymer chain of plastic; breaking this link causes the plastic chain to fragment into smaller pieces, losing its strength and ability to flex and stretch.
Pollution: The contamination of soil, water, or air; improperly disposed waste can cause pollution.
This is DAY 19 of my “28 Day Blogging Challenge“
