• Advanced disposal fee (ADF) : A fee charged at the time of purchase. The funds usually go to support recycling and reduction programs.
  • Aerate : To expose to the circulation of air, as in aerating a compost pile.
  • Aerobic : Able to live and grow in the presence of free oxygen. Aerobic bacterial decomposition results in the conversion of organic wastes to compost.
  • Aseptic packaging : Packaging used to make drink boxes, usually single-serve containers for juice. The boxes are made of aluminum foil, plastic and paper.
  • Ash : The primary residue left after something is burned.
  • Ash monofill : A specially constructed landfill to be used only for disposing ash from various types of incineration.
  • Anaerobic digestion : means a controlled process involving microbial decomposition of organic matter in the absence of oxygen;
  • Authorization : means the consent given by the Board or Committee to the "operator of a facility" ;
  • Bale : A large block of recyclables held together with plastic strapping.
  • Baler : A machine that compacts waste materials, usually into rectangular bales. Balers often are used on newspaper, plastics, and corrugated cardboard.
  • Bimetal container : A container made out of two metals. The body of the can is typically steel while the lid is aluminum. Examples include fruit, vegetables and soup cans.
  • Bioconversion : A general term describing the conversion of one form of energy into another by plants or microorganisms. An example is the digestion of solid wastes or sewage sludge by microorganisms to form methane.
  • Bottom ash : The ash produced from incineration that must be disposed in a landfill.
  • Brown goods : Bulky household items that are difficult to recycle. Examples include mattresses and furniture.
  • Buy-back center : A place to sell recyclable materials.
  • Buy-back programs : Programs that buy recyclables from the public. Buy recycled – Purchasing products made from or that contain materials with recycled content.
  • Biodegradable substance : means a substance that can be degraded by micro-organisms;
  • Biomethanation : means a process which entails enzymatic decomposition of the organic matter by microbial action to produce methane rich biogas;
  • Cell : An area in a landfill where solid waste is disposed of each day.
  • Closed-loop recycling : A system in which materials are continually recycled into the same product. Examples include aluminum cans and glass bottles.
  • Commercial Waste : Waste material that originates in wholesale business establishments, office buildings, stores, schools, hospitals and government agencies. Also known as retail waste.
  • Commingled recyclable materials : A mixture of several recyclables in one container.
  • Compost : The product resulting from the decomposition of organic materials such as yard waste. Compost can be used as a soil conditioner.
  • Compost pile : A place, such as an outside pit or bin, set aside for composting waste.
  • Conservation : The planned management of natural resources to prevent loss, destruction or waste.
  • Corrugated paper : Paper or cardboard manufactured in a series of wrinkles or folds or into alternating ridges and grooves.
  • Cover material : The soil used to cover solid waste in a landfill.
  • Cradle-to-grave : A system that manages solid waste from creation to disposal. In product design, it refers to its creation from raw or recycled materials through manufacturing, use, consumption and disposal.
  • Crumb rubber : Rubber that has been grounded into small pieces.
  • Collection : means lifting and removal of solid wastes from collection points or any other location;
  • Composting : means a controlled process involving microbial decomposition of organic matter;
  • Decompose : To break down into component parts or basic elements; decomposition of organic waste materials by bacteria is an essential life process because it makes essential nutrients available for use by plants and animals.
  • Degradable : Can be decomposed, or broken down, such as yard wastes in a compost pile.
  • Deinking : A process by which most of the ink, filler and other materials are removed from waste paper before using it to manufacture new paper.
  • Demolition debris : Waste materials produced during construction or remodeling including items such as lumber, masonry, gypsum wallboard, shingles and insulation.
  • Diversion rate : A measure of the amount of waste being diverted from the municipal solid waste stream, either through recycling or composting.
  • Do-it-yourselfer : A term for people who choose to change their own motor oil. These people are the focus of campaigns to get people to recycle their used motor oil.
  • Drop-off : A method of collecting recyclable materials where individuals take their recyclables to a designated collection site.
  • Drop-off center : A designated site in the community where individuals may bring recyclables. See recycling center.
  • Dump : an open, unmanaged, illegal disposal site used instead of a permitted landfill.
  • Dumpster : A large container to keep waste until it is collected by the trash hauler. Dumpsters often are used by stores, apartment buildings and restaurants
  • Demolition and construction waste : means wastes from building materials debris and rubble resulting from construction, re-modelling, repair and demolition operation;
  • Disposal : means final disposal of municipal solid wastes in terms of the specified measures to prevent contamination of ground-water, surface water and ambient air quality;
  • Ecology : The scientific study of the relations of living things to one another and to their environment.
  • Energy : The ability or capacity for doing work by body or a system. The measurement of the total heat is a system. Heat can be converted between a number of forms, including light, motion, electricity and warmth.
  • Energy audit : Examination of a building, original drawing, energy history and usage patterns to identify energy saving opportunities.
  • Energy Conservation : The practice of extending the useful life of the earth’s energy resources through wise and efficient management.
  • Energy efficiency : Making energy consuming devices work with less energy.
  • Energy recovery : Recovering energy from waste. For example, used oil is burned to generate heat that produces electricity.
  • Environment : All the conditions, circumstances, and influences surrounding and affecting the development or existence of people or other living things.
  • EPA : The acronym for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It is the federal agency of the U.S. government that sets environmental protection and enforcement standards. The EPA was created in 1970 and serves the entire county through its regional offices.
  • E-waste : Electronic waste such as televisions and computers.
  • Form: means a form appended to these rules;
  • Generator of wastes : means persons or establishments generating municipal solid wastes;
  • Landfilling : means disposal of residual solid wastes on land in a facility designed with protective measures against pollution of ground water, surface water and air fugitive dust, wind-blown litter, bad odour, fire hazard, bird menace, pests or rodents, greenhouse gas emissions, slope instability and erosion;
  • Leachate : means liquid that seeps through solid wastes or other medium and has extracts of dissolved or suspended material from it;
  • Lysimeter : is a device used to measure rate of movement of water through or from a soil layer or is used to collect percolated water for quality analysis;
  • Municipal authority : means Municipal Corporation, Municipality, Nagar Palika, Nagar Nigam, Nagar Panchayat, Municipal Council including notified area committee (NAC) or any other local body constituted under the relevant statutes and, where the management and handling of municipal solid waste is entrusted to such agency;
  • Municipal solid waste : includes commercial and residential wastes generated in a municipal or notified areas in either solid or semi-solid form excluding industrial hazardous wastes but including treated bio-medical wastes;
  • Operator of a facility : means a person who owns or operates a facility for collection, segregation, storage, transportation, processing and disposal of municipal solid wastes and also includes any other agency appointed as such by the municipal authority for the management and handling of municipal solid wastes in the respective areas;
  • Pelletisation : means a process whereby pellets are prepared which are small cubes or cylindrical pieces made out of solid wastes and includes fuel pellets which are also referred as refuse derived fuel;
  • Processing : means the process by which solid wastes are transformed into new or recycled products;
  • Recycling : means the process of transforming segregated solid wastes into raw materials for producing new products, which may or may not be similar to the original products;
  • Schedule : means a Schedule appended to these rules;
  • Segregation : means to separate the municipal solid wastes into the groups of organic, inorganic, recyclables and hazardous wastes;
  • State Board or the Committee : means the State Pollution Control Board of a State, or as the case may be, the Pollution Control Committee of a Union territory;
  • Storage : means the temporary containment of municipal solid wastes in a manner so as to prevent littering, attraction to vectors, stray animals and excessive foul odour;
  • Transportation : means conveyance of municipal solid wastes from place to place hygienically through specially designed transport system so as to prevent foul odour, littering, unsightly conditions and accessibility to vectors;
  • Vadose water : water which occurs between the ground, surface and the water table that is the unsaturated zone;
  • Vermicomposting : is a process of using earthworms for conversion of bio-degradable wastes into compost.