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The following definitions relate to terms as they are used within this report. A discussion of some of the terms used is provided in section 2.5.
The major sources for this glossary are Ryan (1995) for Maori terms, the Christchurch City Council (1998) for waste management terms, and Walker (1994) for scientific terms.
| activities | individual tasks done within a programme |
| alluvial | associated with river and floods |
| aquifer | rock formation containing a recoverable water resource |
| benefit | a positive social, biophysical, economic or financial value or improvement of such a value |
| bio-hazardous waste | medical waste or waste posing a health risk |
| cleaner production | systems or programmes to improve the efficiency of resource and energy use and minimise waste |
| construction and demolition waste | materials which arise from construction, demolition and related activities (eg., roading, building, earthworks, refurbishment) |
| cost | a negative social, biophysical, economic or financial value or reduction in such a value |
| discount rate | a calculation applied to costs or benefits which occur in the past or in the future, to adjust them for the present given social time preferences |
| economic | relating to systems of allocating resources amongst needs and wants, particularly market systems |
| economic instruments | tools for influencing human behaviour that use market forces and/or principles |
| ecological | relating to living things (excluding humans), their physical environment and any interactions between them |
| effect | a change resulting from an action i.e., its cost or benefit |
| environment | surroundings or context, often meaning natural, physical or biophysical but also including social, financial and economic |
| financial | refers to costs and benefits accounted for in economic or market systems and accruing to waste management service providers |
| garden waste | non-manufactured organic material collected from gardens |
| green waste | garden waste and other organic material suitable for composting |
| hazardous waste | waste which can harm people, property or the environment if not correctly managed |
| indicator | a measurement which is used as a representative of the state of a larger system |
| industrial ecosystem | a concept in which an industrial system is not considered in isolation from surrounding systems, also related to sustainable production and lifecycle approaches (Marstrander, 1996, p.109) |
| infiltration | penetration of a liquid into soil or substrate |
| institutions | any formalised structure of society |
| iwi | tribe, bone, race, people, nation, strength |
| kaitiaki | guard, caretaker, manager, trustee |
| kitchen waste | fruit, vegetable or other waste generated in residential or commercial kitchens |
| leachate | liquid effluent produced by movement of water through a substance or material (eg., landfill) |
| Maori | ordinary, fresh, native people |
| mauri | spirit, life force |
| municipal solid waste | general refuse, eg., the mixed rubbish collected from houses and businesses |
| organic waste | waste which can be composted |
| pakeha | non-Maori, European, Caucasian |
| programme | an identified part of the waste management process, eg., landfill, public education, municipal waste collection, refuse stations |
| putrescible waste | waste which rots |
| refuse | same as municipal solid waste |
| refuse station | sites at which the public can deposit refuse or separated waste for composting, recycling or reuse (also known as transfer stations) |
| runanga | assembly, institute, debate, discuss, seminar, council (in this report, refers to group representing localised groups within the iwi) |
| social | refers to costs and benefits which accrue directly to humans and human systems (includes socio-economic costs and benefits) |
| socio-economic | refers to costs and benefits relating to economic and market systems and accruing to the public (as opposed to the service provider) |
| special waste | non-hazardous waste requiring special handling for disposal |
| tangata whenua | local people, aborigine, native |
| tauiwi | alien, gentile, heathen, foreigner, infidel |
| total cost | evaluation of costs less benefits of all types (social, biophysical, financial and socioeconomic) |
| waste | substances or materials which are currently unwanted |
| waste generation | the point at which materials become unwanted and thus enter the waste stream, or the act of introducing material to the waste stream |
| waste management hierarchy | an order the desirability of different waste management practices, which may include but is not limited to: reduction; reuse; recycling; recovery; and residue disposal |
| waste stream | the flow of materials from generation to disposal or diversion by reuse or recycling |
| water table | the level below which the ground is saturated with water |
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