4602.0.55.005 - Waste Account, Australia, Experimental Estimates, 2013 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 19/02/2013  First Issue
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GLOSSARY

Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 2006

The ANZSIC is the standard classification used in Australia and New Zealand for the collection, compilation, and publication of industry statistics.

Biosolids

Treated sewage sludges

Basic price

The amount receivable by the producer from the purchaser for a unit of a good or service produced as output, minus any tax payable plus any subsidy receivable, on that unit as a consequence of its production or sale; it excludes any transport charges invoiced separately by the producer.

Carcinogenic

Any substance which tends to produce a cancer in the body.

Clinical waste/medical waste

Waste products that cannot be considered general waste and are produced from health care activities. May also refer to health-related wastes produced by households and discarded into the municipal waste stream.

Commingled materials

Materials mixed together, such as plastic bottles with glass and metal containers. Commingled recyclable materials require sorting after collection before they can be recycled.

Commercial & Industrial waste (C&I)

Waste that is produced by institutions and businesses; includes waste from schools, restaurants, offices, retail and wholesale businesses, and industries including manufacturing. Unless otherwise noted, C&I waste does not include waste from the construction and demolition (C&D) sector.

Construction

The process which involves adding structure to real property or the building or assembling of infrastructure. It includes the additions, alterations, reconstruction, installation and maintenance and repairs of buildings and other structures.

Construction & Demolition waste (C&D)

Refers to waste produced by demolition and building activities, including road and rail construction and maintenance and excavation of land associated with construction activities. The C&D waste stream usually covers only some of the generation, disposal and recycling of C&D wastes, as these materials can also be found in the MSW and C&I streams, or as hazardous wastes.

Current taxes on income, wealth etc

Consists mainly of taxes on the incomes of households or profits of corporations and of taxes on wealth that are payable regularly every tax period (as distinct from capital taxes levied infrequently).

Disposed waste

Waste that is buried in landfill or incinerated or any other permanent form of removing waste that is not recovered or reused in any way. For facilities other than landfill, quantities disposed refer to waste that is sent to disposal facilities operated by either the same or a different organisation.

Diversion rate

Proportion of waste received at all facilities that are diverted from being disposed. Equal to the amount recovered at all facilities divided by the sum of the amount disposed at landfills and the amount recovered at all facilities. Waste that is transferred is not included in this calculation. The calculated diversion rate only includes waste received at facilities in scope of the Waste Management Services, Australia, 2009-10 (cat no. 8698.0).

Electrical & Electronic waste (or Ewaste)

Waste electrical and electronic equipment that is dependent on electric currents or electromagnetic fields in order to function (including all components, subassemblies and consumables which are part of the original equipment at the time of discarding. Ewaste may include (a) consumer/entertainment electronics (e.g. televisions, DVD players & tuners) (b) devices of office, information & communications technology (e.g. computers, telephones & mobile phones) (c) household appliances (e.g. fridges, washing machines & microwaves) (d) lighting devices (e.g. desk lamps) (e) power tools (f) devices used for sport & leisure including toys (e.g. fitness machines & remote control cars).

Emission

The release of a particular gas to the atmosphere as a result of a certain activity. Emissions can be of the following four types:

      (a) Generated - the gross result of a process or activity
      (b) Recovered - the diversion of emissions for use in a secondary process, such as power generation
      (c) Sinks - the process of removing carbon from the atmosphere
      (d) Net emissions - remaining gas released to the atmosphere after generation, recovery and sinks are taken into account

Environmental account

An information system and framework that links the economic activities and uses of a resource to changes in the natural resource base, thus linking resource use with the System of National Accounts. See also SEEA.

Exports

The exports of goods represents the quantity of goods sent to other countries or for which ownership changes from residents to non-residents.

Ferrous metals

Metals which contain iron (e.g. cast iron, steel)

Fishing waste

Fishing waste is material resulting from industrial fish processing operations from either wild stocks or aquaculture consisting of particles of flesh, skin, bones, entrails, shells or liquid stick water.

Fly ash

Fly ash is a pre-consumer waste generated during the combustion of material, most usually coal for electricity generation (a secondary industry). It is also sometimes classified as a hazardous or regulated waste.

Free on board

The value of goods measured on a free on board (f.o.b.) basis includes all production and other costs incurred up until the goods are placed on board the international carrier for export. Free on board values exclude international insurance and transport costs. They include the value of the outside packaging in which the product is wrapped, but do not include the value of the international freight containers used for transporting the goods.

General Government

The general government sector as used in this publication mainly comprises local government administration units (ANZSIC Division O, Class 7530) including regional councils which provide waste and other services on behalf of member councils.

Glass

Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline) solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent. Glass is produced by fusion, usually consisting of mutually dissolved silica and silicates that also contain soda and lime, as in the ordinary variety used for windows and bottles.

Green Waste

Biodegradable waste such as grass or flower cuttings and hedge trimmings. May also include domestic and commercial food waste.

Gross value added

The value of output at basic prices minus the value of intermediate consumption at purchasers' prices. The term is used to describe gross product by industry and by sector. Basic prices valuation of output removes the distortion caused by variations in the incidence of commodity taxes and subsidies across the output of individual industries.

Hazardous waste

Hazardous, special, listed or prescribed wastes, that are potentially harmful to human health or the environment, requiring special treatment. Examples include waste oils, organic chemicals, contaminated earth, medical wastes, asbestos, acids, reactive chemicals, pesticides and radioactive material.

Households

A group of two or more related or unrelated people who usually reside in the same dwelling, who regard themselves as a household, and who make common provision for food or other essentials for living; or a person living in a dwelling who makes provision for his/her own food and other essentials for living, without combining with any other person.

Imports

The imports of goods represents the quantity of goods received from other countries or for which ownership changes from non-residents to residents.

Inseparable/unknown

General waste consists of non-hazardous materials which have been discarded and cannot be re-used or recycled. General waste is also known as putrescible or mixed waste. General waste can include food waste, wax cardboard, tissue paper and soiled containers.

Landfill

A site used for disposal of solid material (i.e. is spadeable) by burial in the ground between layers of earth.

Liquid waste

Wastes that are not solid or gaseous. May refer to sludges and slurries, or other liquids discharged to sewer. May also refer to waste water. Liquid waste means any waste that (a) has an angle of repose less than 5 degrees above horizontal or (b) becomes free-flowing at or below 60 degrees Celsius or when it is transported or (c) is generally not capable of being picked up by a spade or shovel.

Manufacturing

The process where units are engaged in the physical or chemical transformation of materials, substances or components into new products (except agriculture and construction). The materials, substances or components transformed by units in this division are raw materials that are products of agriculture, forestry, fishing and mining or products of other manufacturing units.

Masonry materials

Masonry materials include asphalt, bricks, concrete, clay, fines, rubble and soil. Waste produced by demolition and building activities, including road and rail construction and maintenance and excavation of land associated with construction activities.

Material Recovery Facility (MRF)

Facility that receives and separates recyclable materials such as glass, plastic, steel, aluminium and paper that are collected from household recycling bins and recyclable materials from commercial premises. Recyclable materials at a materials recovery facility are separated and sent away to be processed into new products.

Metals

There are two main categories of metals: ferrous and non-ferrous. Metals which contain iron in them are known as ferrous where metals without iron are non-ferrous. According to the The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), common non-ferrous metals are copper, brass, aluminium, zinc, magnesium, tin, nickel, and lead. Non-ferrous metals also include precious and exotic metals. Precious metals are metals with a high market value in any form, such as gold, silver, and platinum. The more frequently recycled metals are scrap steel, iron, lead, aluminium, copper, stainless steel and zinc.

Mineral waste

Waste rock and overburden, tailings and spent heap leach ore form mineral processing, rock masses disturbed by block caving, rejects from beneficiation or concentration of coal and other minerals, bauxite residue from alumina production, dross refinery discards and sludges, smelter and other furnace slags, ashes, water treatment sludges, dredging materials and soils contaminated by mineral waste.

Mining

The process where units extract naturally occurring mineral solids, such as coal and ores; liquid minerals, such as crude petroleum; and gases, such as natural gas from the earth, from an ore body, vein or (coal) seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. The term mining is used in the broad sense to include: underground or open cut mining; dredging; quarrying; well operations or evaporation pans; recovery from ore dumps or tailings as well as beneficiation activities (i.e. preparing, including crushing, screening, washing and flotation) and other preparation work customarily performed at the mine site, or as a part of mining activity.

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)

Waste produced primarily by households and council facilities, including biodegradable material, recyclable materials such as bottles, paper and cardboard and aluminium cans, and a wide range of non-degradable material including paint, appliances, old furniture and household lighting.

Mutagenic

An agent or substance which is capable of inducing genetic mutation

Non-ferrous metals

Those metals that contain very little or no iron (e.g. copper, brass and bronze).

Non-mineral waste

Non-mineral wastes include but are not limited to used oil, antifreeze, greases, batteries, solvents, coolants, spent reagents and paints, tyres, contaminated soils and debris, solid sewage residues, construction debris, spent pot liners, bath, anode wastes, refractory bricks and any other waste materials from processing, maintenance and medical facilities, canteens, offices, workshops, laboratories and gardens, including off-specification raw materials (other than ore) used in processes. Non-mineral wastes do not include residues directly derived from mining or processing of rock and unconsolidated sediments.

Non-organic waste

Includes glass, plastic, metal, construction/demolition waste, rubber and tyres, electrical waste, hazardous and liquid waste.

Organic waste

Component of the waste stream from plant or animal sources that is readily biodegradable, e.g. paper and cardboard, food waste, biosolids, green waste and timber.

Other taxes on production

Consists of all taxes except taxes on products that enterprises incur as a result of engaging in production.

Other industries

Industries other than those included in ANZSIC Division A Agriculture, Division B Mining, Division C Manufacturing, Division D Electricity, Gas, Water, Division E Construction, sub division 29 Waste Collection, Treatment and Disposal Services and Class 7530 Local Government Administration. .

Paper & cardboard

Various forms of paper and cardboard which can be recycled and reused include cardboard boxes, newspaper, office paper, envelopes, junk mail, cards milk and juice cartons. The main component of paper and cardboard is cellulose fibre.

Plastics

Any of a group of synthetic or natural organic materials that may be shaped when soft and then hardened, including many types of resins, resinoids, polymers, cellulose derivatives, casein materials, and proteins: used in place of other materials such as glass, wood, and metals, in construction and decoration, for making many articles, as coatings, and, drawn into filaments, for weaving.

Purchasers' price

The amount paid by the purchaser, excluding any deductible tax, in order to take delivery of a unit of a good or service at the time and place required by the purchaser. The purchaser’s price of a good includes any transport charges paid separately by the purchaser to take delivery at the required time and place

Recovery rate

Proportion of waste received at facilities other than landfill that was recovered for recycling or reprocessing. Equal to the amount recovered divided by the sum of the amount sent for disposal and the amount recovered. Waste that is transferred is not included in this calculation.

Recovered or reprocessed

Process of converting or modifying waste into useful material or energy so that they do not need to be disposed. Also referred to as materials or resource recovery. Includes sorting, separating and baling.

Recycling

A resource recovery method involving the collection and processing of waste for use as a raw material in the manufacture of the same or similar non-waste product.

Regulated waste

In some jurisdictions the term ‘regulated waste’ is used to refer to hazardous wastes.

Residuals

All solid, liquid and gaseous wastes. The incidental and undesirable outputs from production and consumption processes within the economy.

Residual waste

The waste that remains after resource recovery processes, is unable to be recovered, and may require disposal in landfill.

Resource recovery

The process of extracting materials or energy from a waste stream through re-use (using the product for the same or a different purpose without further production), recycling or recovering energy from waste.

SEEA

The System of Environmental and Economic Accounting (SEEA) is a measurement framework that can provide a range of metrics that link information on the economy and the environment. This integration of information is achieved by the use of common frameworks, classifications and standards, providing an integrated database for policy analysis and decision making. In 2012 it was adopted as an international statistical standard by the United Nations Statistical Commission and has the staus as the System of National Accounts.

Solid

Material that:
      (a) Has an angle of repose of greater than 5 degrees; and
      (b) Does not contain, or is not comprised of, any free liquids; and
      (c) Does not contain, or is not comprised of, any liquids that are capable
      of being released when the waste is transported;
      (d) Does not become free flowing at or below 60 degrees Celsius or when It is transported; and
      (e) is generally capable of being moved by a spade at normal temperatures (i.e. is spadeable).

Solid hazardous waste

Component of the waste stream which by its characteristics poses a threat or risk to public health, safety or the environment (includes substances which are toxic, infectious, mutagenic, carcinogenic, teratogenic, explosive, flammable, corrosive, oxidising and radioactive) and meets the definition of a solid.

Solid waste

Waste materials ranging from municipal garbage to industrial waste, but excluding gaseous, liquid, hazardous, clinical and intractable wastes.

Spadeable

A physical state of a material where the material behaves sufficiently like a solid to be moved by a spade at normal outdoor temperatures.

Subsidy on product

A subsidy payable per unit of a good or service.

Taxes less subsidies on production and imports

Defined as ‘taxes on products’ plus ‘other taxes on production’ less 'subsidies on products' less 'other subsidies on production'.

Taxes on production and imports

Consist of ‘taxes on products’ and ‘other taxes on production’. These taxes do not include any taxes on the profits or other income received by an enterprise. They are payable irrespective of the profitability of the production process. They may be payable on the land, fixed assets or labour employed in the production process, or on certain activities or transactions. See also Current taxes on income and wealth, Other taxes on production and Taxes on products.

Taxes on products

Taxes payable per unit of some good or service. The tax may be a specific amount of money per unit of quantity of a good or service (quantity being measured either in terms of discrete units or continuous physical variables such as volume, weight, strength, distance, time, etc.), or it may be calculated ad valorem as a specified percentage of the price per unit or value of the goods or services transacted. A tax on a product usually becomes payable when the product is produced, sold or imported, but it may also become payable in other circumstances, such as when a good is exported, leased, transferred, delivered, or used for own consumption or own capital formation. See also Current taxes on income and wealth, Other taxes on production and Taxes on production and imports.

Teratogenic

Leading to the production of foetal abnormalities.

Transport and Trade margins

The total of trade margins by product is equal to the total of trade margins by the trade industries, plus the secondary trade margins by other industries. An analogous equation holds for the transport margins. The transport margins include transportation costs paid separately by the purchaser and included in the use of products at purchasers’ prices but not in the basic prices of a manufacturers’ output or in the trade margins of wholesale or retail traders.

Waste

(a) any substance that is discarded, emitted or deposited in the environment in such volume, constituency or manner as to cause an alteration in the environment;

(b) any discarded, rejected, unwanted, surplus or abandoned substance;

(c) any otherwise discarded, rejected, unwanted, surplus or abandoned substance intended for sale or for recycling, reprocessing, recovery, or purification by a separate operation from that which produced the substance.

Waste (management) hierarchy

A nationally and internationally used guide which prioritises waste management practices in order of preference (from the most to least preferred) to achieve the best environmental outcome. The order of practice it sets out is avoidance, re-use, recovery, and recycling, with disposal as a last resort.

Waste Management Services Industry

Can include any combination of collection, transport, recycling, treatment, processing, disposal, managing and monitoring of waste materials (ANZSIC Division D, subdivision 29).

Waste streams

The sector where the waste is produced; the source from which the waste is obtained. There are three main waste streams:
      (a) Domestic and municipal: waste from municipal kerbside garbage and recycling collections, council garbage from litter bins, council waste from parks and gardens, and domestic waste brought to landfills and transfer stations.
      (b) Commercial and Industrial: waste generated by businesses, state and federal government and education, excluding waste collected by municipal collections.
      (c) Construction and Demolition: waste from residential, civil and commercial construction & demolition (e.g. bricks, concrete, rubble, soil, rock).