glossary
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Aluminium
Whether drink cans, screw caps of bottles or lids of yoghurt cups are concerned, they are all made of the lightweight metal aluminium. Waste sales packaging units made of aluminium are disposed of in the yellow bin/yellow bag. In the sorting plants, cyclone technology is used to separate all non-ferrous metals like aluminium from the packaging stream.
Aluminium can be recycled with random frequency and with almost no loss in quality. Either new packaging can be produced, or the material is put to use in other lines of business like the construction and automotive industries. By manufacturing new goods from secondary aluminium, up to 95 per cent of the requisite energy can be saved.
Blister
Blister packs are transparent packaging units made of a stable plastic film and a rear wall of aluminium foil or cardboard. Nowadays, tablets and tooth brushes in particular are packaged in this way.
Cardboard
Flat packaging material consisting of fibres that are mostly of vegetable origin. It is stiffer than paper and is generally produced from more high-grade materials than board.
Composite packaging
is a packaging, made from different materials, which cannot be separated by hand and neither of them is more than 95 percent of the weight of the packaging.
Construction and demolition waste
shall be waste resulting from construction activity on construction sites, as well as waste from the demolition or remodelling of buildings and facilities.
Deposit system
is a system in which the buyer at the purchase of a packed product pays to the seller certain sum, which is restored to him at returning of the packaging.
Distributor
is each person, implementing commercial transactions with packed goods, and different from their producer, importer or consumer.
Drink cartons
The best known type of packaging made of composite materials. Drink cartons consist of cellulose and the plastic PE. In the case of drink cartons for products with longer shelf lives, like juices, there is an additional layer of aluminium involved.
In a one-litre drink carton only three per cent of the weight is made up by the packaging and 97 per cent by the contents. The long, tear-resistant fibres of the carton are processed into corrugated board and toilet tissues, while the aluminium and PE are used as a substitute fuel in the cement industry.
EU Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste
A directive of the European Union, according to which the member states had to set up national collection systems and achieve recycling quotas for packaging.
The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive, in force since 20th December 1994, gives first priority to the avoidance, followed by re-use, material recycling and other forms of recycling in the handling of packaging waste. At least 60 per cent by weight of packaging waste has to be recycled or incinerated in waste incineration plants with energy recovery by 31st December 2008.
Group or secondary packaging
is the packaging, which at the moment of the purchase includes defined number of goods for sale, regardless of whether the goods are sold to the consumer packed or the packaging serve only for storage and preservation of the goods at the place of sale. The group packaging can be separated from the product without affecting its characteristics.
Hazardous waste
shall be waste whereof the composition, amount and properties present risks to human health and the environment, which possesses one or more properties which define it as hazardous, and/or which contains components which render it into hazardous waste and/or which is designated as such according to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal.
Household waste
shall be waste resulting from the life activities of people at home and at office, social and public buildings. Waste from distributive-trade establishments and accessory handicraft activities, recreational and entertainment establishments shall be subsumed under household waste where not having the nature of hazardous waste and where, concurrently, the amount or composition thereof will not impede their treatment together with household waste.
Incineration with energy recovery
is use of combustible packaging waste with objective obtaining of energy by direct incineration with or without using of other wastes but utilising the heat from incineration.
Industrial waste
shall be waste resulting from the industrial activities of natural and juristic persons.
Landfill of waste
shall be a method which does not envisage further treatment of the waste and consists in storage of waste for a period longer than three years (applicable to waste destined for recovery) and one year (applicable to waste destined for disposal) in a manner which does not present risks to human health and the environment.
Natural materials
Natural materials are, e.g, cotton, jute, linen, wool, wood, cork, ceramics, porcelain, earthenware, stoneware, clay.
Ordinary waste
shall be waste formed after use of products from numerous sources within the entire national territory which, owing to the characteristics thereof, require special management.
Organic recycling
is aerobic (composting) or anaerobic (bio-methane) processing of the biodegradable part of the packaging waste under controlled conditions and with use of micro-organisms at which living activity are formed stabilised organic remains or methane. The depositing shall not be considered as form of organic recycling.
Packagingis all the products, regardless of their origin and the material they are made of, used by each person along the chain from the producer to the end users for keeping, preservation, handling, supply and presenting of whatever goods from raw materials to ready products. The articles for one time use (bags, cups, buckets, boxes for one time use as well as other articles, which are offered immediately to the client at the place of sale together with the products, for which packaging they are designated) shall also be considered packaging in the cases when they are used for the same purposes.
Packaging component
The packaging component is part of the packaging that can be separated manually with simple physical means.
Packaging waste
is any kind of packaging or packaging materials, which are within the scope of the definition “waste” in the sense of § 1, item 1 of AP of WMA, except the remains, obtained from production processes.
Paper
A flat packaging material, consisting mainly of fibres mostly of vegetable origin; grammage ≤ 225 g/m2. Parchment, parchment substitute, glassine and waxed paper are allocated to the material paper.
PET
Primarily on account of its low weight and resistance to breakage, the plastic PET is playing an increasingly important role in the packaging sector. Its share is growing steadily, in particular in the beverage industry.
Recycled PET is in demand, for example, in textile applications, plastic items and new bottles.
Substances, the basic components of which are synthetically or semi-synthetically manufactured polymers, are designated as plastics.
Due to the choice of the basic material, the manufacturing process and the admixing of additives, the technical properties of plastics, such as the mouldability, hardness, elasticity, breaking strength, temperature resistance and chemical resistance, can be varied within broad limits.
Plastics are processed further into mouldings, semi-finished products, fibres, films and foils. The plastics used most in the packaging sector are PE, PP, PET and PS.
Producer of packed goods
is an individual or corporate body, who produces and distributes on the market goods, packed in user’s, group or transport packaging.
Producer of packaging
is each person, who produces packaging, materials for packaging or products, from which packaging can be produced, as well as each person, who imports packaging materials or products for direct production of packaging.
Producer of waste
shall be any natural or juristic person whose activities produce waste ("original producer") and/or anyone who carries out pre-processing, mixing and other operations resulting in a change in the nature or composition of the waste.
Recovery organisation
is a corporate body, registered under the Commercial Act, which does not distribute profit and manages the activities for separate collection, recycling and recovery of packaging waste.
Recycling
is production process of processing of waste materials with objective obtaining of the initial or other products. In the definition shall be included the organic recycling but not the burning with recovery of the energy.
Reuse
is each operation, with which the packaging, designated and designed to do respective minimum number of transportations and uses within the framework of its life cycle, are filled or used again for the purpose, for which they have been designed, with or without the help of additional products, giving opportunity for following use of the packaging and its distribution on the market. The multiply used packaging shall turn into waste when it cannot be used any more.
System for collection of packaging wasteis the concrete way of organization of the collection of packaging waste, which may be mixed or separate, including: collection at delivery points, independently or together with other wastes; collection in containers, put on the streets; collection in containers, put at the homes; collection in containers, put at the places of selling; collection in transparent bags (with daily or periodical organised collection from the sidewalk); combination of the options pointed out etc.
Transport or tertiary packaging
is the packaging, serving or accepted as means for facilitating the manipulation and the transportation of the good or the group packaging by restricting the physical manipulation with it and prevention of the damaging of the goods or the group packaging at loading and transportation. The transport packaging shall not include road, railroad, ship or aircraft containers.
Treatment of waste
shall be the collection, storage, recovery or disposal of waste and all intermediate operations, as well as the reuse, recycling and reclamation of waste, or production of energy or extraction of materials from waste.
User
is each person, who acquires goods or uses services for personal needs and not for sale, production or exercising of profession or craft.
User’s or primary packaging
is the packaging, which is part or is accepted as part of the trade product by the end user at the moment of the purchase.
Waste processing
shall be an activity which alters the properties or the composition of the waste, converting it into feedstock for manufacture of end products or into end products.
