Feedstock Recycling:

A group of recycling technologies employing various processes that convert mixtures of plastics into petroleum feedstocks or raw materials that can be used in refineries and petrochemical facilities for making new products. These technologies augment existing mechanical systems as part of an integrated approach to plastics recycling designed to increase the volume of post-consumer plastic plastics diverted from the waste stream and expand the variety of plastics that are recycled into new and useful products. (The Evolution of Plastics Recycling Technology, APC, 1994).

Generation:

A figure that refers to the amount (weight, volume or percentage of the overall waste stream) of materials and products as they enter the waste stream and before materials recovery, composting or combustion takes place. (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).

Glycolysis:

A process that stops short of complete depolymerization, but breaks long polymer chains into short-chain oligomers that are repolymerized into virgin polymer. (Modern Plastics Encyclopedia 1995).

Granulating:

A size-reduction process used for production scrap, post-consumer plastic packaging, industrial parts, or other materials that must be downsized for further processing. Granulators consist of a feed hopper, cutting chamber, classifying screen, and rotating knives that work in concert with stationary-bed knives to reduce the plastic scrap until it is small enough to pass through the classifying screen. The resulting particles, called regrind, can vary in size from 3 mm to 20 mm. (Modern Plastics Encyclopedia 1995).

Green Dot:

Germany's Packaging Ordinance of June 12, 1991, designed to eliminate any packaging that cannot be reused, recycled or incinerated for energy recovery. Its aim is to keep packaging separate from the municipal waste stream by forcing retailers and distributors to take back used packaging materials and reuse, recycle or dispose of it. A private company established by industry to fulfill obligations under the Ordinance, Duales System Deutshland (DSD), guarantees that the packaging of participating members will be collected for reuse or recycling. In return, the products of DSD members can bear the "green dot." (Environmental Packaging; U.S. Guide to Green Labeling, Packaging and Recycling. Thompson Publishing Group, October 1995).e intensive physical mixing in a molten polymer that is achieved during extrusion can homogenize different grades of materials and even some types and amounts of foreign material that might not have been removed during the recycling process. (Adapted from Modern Plastics Encyclopedia 1995).

Handler:

An organization that prepares recyclable plastics by sorting, densifying and/or storing the material until a sufficient quantity is on hand. When the handler completes processing, the material is not ready to be manufactured into a new product, but it has been made more valuable. (Waste Reduction Strategies for Rural Communities, prepared by the MaCC Group, with support from Tennessee Valley Authority, March 1994).

Hauler:

A company that transports post-consumer plastic and other materials to a handler or other processor. (Stretch Wrap Recycling: A How-To Guide, APC, 1994).

High Density Polyethylene (HDPE):

HDPE refers to a plastic used to make bottles for milk, juice, water and laundry products. Unpigmented HDPE bottles are translucent and have good barrier properties and stiffness. They are well suited to packaging products with short shelf lives such as milk. Pigmented HDPE bottles generally have better stress crack and chemical resistance than bottles made with unpigmented HDPE. These properties are needed for packaging such items as household chemicals and detergents, which have a longer shelf life. Injection-molded HDPE is resistant to warpage and distortion. It is used for products such as margarine tubs and yogurt containers. (Plastic Packaging Opportunities and Challenges, APC, February 1992)