Conventional Products are new and do not contain a substantial amount of recycled content, if any.
Post-consumer waste is a waste type produced by the end consumer of a material stream; that is, where the waste-producing use did not involve the production of another product.
Quite commonly, it is simply the garbage that individuals routinely discard, either in a waste receptacle or a dump, or by littering, incinerating, pouring down the drain, or washing into the gutter.
Post-consumer waste is distinguished from pre-consumer waste, which is the reintroduction of manufacturing scrap (such as trimmings from paper production, defective aluminum cans, etc.) back into the manufacturing process. Pre-consumer waste is commonly used in manufacturing industries, and is often not considered recycling in the traditional sense.
Recycling is the reprocessing of old materials into new products, with the aims of preventing the waste of potentially useful materials, reducing the consumption of fresh raw materials and reducing energy usage, and thereby lowering greenhouse gas emissions compared to virgin production. Recycling is a key concept of modern waste management and is the third component of the "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" waste hierarchy, though colloquial usage of "recycling" can also include "reuse".
"Recyclable materials" or "recyclables", may originate from home, business or industry. They include glass, paper, metal, textiles and plastics. Though analogus, the composting of biodegradable waste (such as food or garden waste) is not typically considered recycling. These materials are either brought to a collection centre or picked-up from the curbside, sorted, cleaned and reprocessed into new products bound for manufacturing.
To judge the environmental benefits of recycling, the cost of this entire process must be compared to the cost of virgin extraction. In order for recycling to be economically viable, there must be a steady supply of recyclates and constant demand for the reprocessed goods, both of which can be stimulated through government legislation.
Biodegradation is the process by which organic substances are broken down by the enzymes produced by living organisms. The term is often used in relation to ecology, waste management and environmental remediation (bioremediation). Organic material can be degraded aerobically, with oxygen, or anaerobically, without oxygen. A term related to biodegradation is biomineralisation, in which organic matter is converted into minerals.
Biodegradable matter is generally organic material such as plant and animal matter and other substances originating from living organisms, or artificial materials that are similar enough to plant and animal matter to be put to use by microorganisms. Some microorganisms have the astonishing, naturally occurring, microbial catabolic diversity to degrade, transform or accumulate a huge range of compounds including hydrocarbons (e.g. oil), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), pharmaceutical substances, radionuclides and metals. Major methodological breakthroughs in microbial biodegradation have enabled detailed genomic, metagenomic, proteomic, bioinformatic and other high-throughput analyses of environmentally relevant microorganisms providing unprecedented insights into key biodegradative pathways and the ability of microorganisms to adapt to changing environmental conditions.
Composting is the aerobic decomposition of biodegradable organic matter, producing compost. The decomposition is performed primarily by facultative and obligate aerobic bacteria, yeasts and fungi, helped in the cooler initial and ending phases by a number of larger organisms, such as ils, and other families representing ants, nematodes and oligochaete worms.
Composting can be divided into home composting and industrial composting. Essentially the same biological processes are involved in both scales of composting; however techniques and different factors must be taken into account.
