Densification:

A process that lowers the volume-to-weight ratio in order to reduce shipping costs. Baling is the most common form of densification, although some handlers of post-consumer plastic plastics granulate or grind collected material. (The Blueprint for Plastics Recycling, The Council for Solid Waste Solutions, 1991).

Design for Recycling:

This concept aims to encourage pre-production planning for safe and efficient recycling by the elimination, to the extent possible, of hazardous and non-recyclable materials from the production process. (Design For Recycling: The Scrap Recycling Industry's Perspective, Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Inc. (ISRI), 1991).

Dioxin:

Dioxin is a naturally occurring compound and a by-product of environmental events such as volcanoes and forest fires. man-made processes such as manufacturing, paper and pulp bleaching, and exhaust emissions also yield dioxin. To find out more, go to the Chlorine Chemistry Council.

Discards:

The components of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) remaining after recovery for recycling and composting. These discards are presumably combusted or disposed of in landfills, although some MSW is littered, stored, disposed of on site or burned on site, particularly in rural areas. (Characterization of Municipal Solid Waste in the United States: 1995 Update, prepared for U.S. EPA Municipal and Industrial Solid Waste Division Office of Solid Waste, March 1996).

Drop-Off Center:

A centrally located depot to which consumers bring recyclables that does not provide payment for delivered materials. (The Blueprint for Plastics Recycling, The Council for Solid Waste Solutions, 1991).

Durable Goods:

Consumer products with a useful life of three years or more that include major appliances, furniture, tires, lead-acid automotive batteries, consumer electronics, automobiles and other items. (Characterization of Municipal Solid Waste in the United States: 1995 Update, prepared for U.S. EPA Municipal and Industrial Solid Waste Division Office of Solid Waste, March 1996).

End Market:

Any product that utilizes post-consumer plastic plastic in its manufacture. (Adapted from Modern Plastics Encyclopedia 1995)

End Product:

A fabricated value-added item that does not include Bales, flake or pellets. (1995 post-consumer plastic Plastics Recycling/Recovery Rate Survey, Glossary of Terms, R.W. Beck & Associates).

Endocrine:

For more information on the theory of endocrine disruption go to the Canadian Chemical Producers Association, the Chemical Manufacturers Association, the Chlorine Chemistry Council or the Bisphenol-A Web Site sponsored by the Global Bisphenol-A Industry Group of The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. and the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC).

Energy Recovery:

The process of recovering the thermal energy produced when fuels are converted to gases and residues through the combustion process. The thermal energy generally is recovered through the use of heat exchangers that extract the energy from the hot combustion gases. Heat exchangers can be air to air units similar to those used in residential or commercial hot air heating systems or air to water/steam units (boilers) that can be designed to generate either hot water or steam, similar to residential and commercial hot water and steam generation heating systems. Large electric power production facilities, including modern waste-to-energy plants, that supply needed power to our homes, hospitals and factories, maximize thermal energy recovery efficiency through the utilization of high temperature, high pressure steam generating boilers that recover both the radiant energy from the combustion process inside the furnace as well as the energy in the hot combustion gases. The high heating value of plastics makes them a valuable source of energy that can be readily recovered in modern waste-to-energy plants. (Tchobanoglous, George, Hilary Theisen and Rolf Eliassen, "Solid Wastes, Engineering Principles and Management Issues," McGraw-Hill, Inc., New York, 1977; Gershman, Brickner & Bratton, Inc., "Small-Scale Municipal Solid Waste Energy Recovery Systems," Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York, 1986).

Environmental Marketing Guidelines:

U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims, issued in July, 1992, are voluntary guidelines for product manufacturers using environmental advertising and marketing. They are intended to help prevent misleading environmental marketing claims. (Environmental Packaging; U.S. Guide to Green Labeling, Packaging and Recycling. Thompson Publishing Group, October 1995).

Extrusion:

One of the most common plastics processing techniques covering a vast range of applications in which resins are melted, heated and pumped for processing. Extrusion machines accomplish these tasks by means of one or more internal screws. In extrusion, the material to be processed is sheared between the root of the screw and the wall of the barrel that surround it. This process produces frictional energy that heats and melts the substance as it is conveyed down the barrel. Melted extrudate from the machine is further processed after the extrusion phase, which typically produces pellets, sheet, cast film, blown film, fibers, coatings, pipes, profiles or molded parts. (Modern Plastics Encyclopedia 1995).