Green Related Terms
The release of materials which have been transformed by chemical processes in the atmosphere and are then deposited on earth through rain, sleet or fog. These materials can cause damage to buildings and harm terrestrial, animal, plant and human health.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Several genera and species of green algae found in lakes, ponds and streams that are responsible for both aquatic oxygen balance and food sources for fish are tested for their reaction to chemical exposure. Chemicals that kill algae are considered dangerous.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
ANSI facilitates the development of American National Standards (ANS) by accrediting the procedures of standards developing organizations (SDOs). These groups work cooperatively to develop voluntary national consensus standards like NSF/ANSI 336, the Sustainability Assessment for Commercial Furnishings.
Source: American National Standards Institute
Category: Green
A silvery-white metal found in the earth’s crust; frequently alloyed with lead to increase its hardness and strength. When combined with oxygen, it produces antimony trioxide.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
A compound used as a fire retardant and as a catalyst to manufacture PET (polyethylene terephthalate.) It is a suspected human carcinogen.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
The use or release of substances that have a toxic impact on aquatic species
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
The Association for Contract Textiles is a nonprofit organization that was founded in 1985. ACT is a professional trade group consisting primarily of companies that design, develop, produce and promote textiles for commercial interiors united for support, strength, credibility and common interests.
Source: ACT
Category: Fiber, Green, Weave
A fiber that is produced from original bamboo fibers and maintains all the original qualities inherent in bamboo. It is very similar to linen both in molecular structure and fiber characteristics.
Source: Brentano, Inc.
Category: Fiber, Green
A fiber which has been reconstituted from the original bamboo fiber and therefore small amounts of original bamboo fiber remain. Viscose is the process of producing a rayon yarn and it was originally created to imitate silk.
Source: Brentano, Inc.
Category: Fiber, Green
The process by which substances are stored and accumulated in the tissue or organs of humans or animals.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
A commercial or industrial product (other than food or feed) that utilizes biological products or renewable domestic agricultural (plant, animal and marine) or forestry materials.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
When a body of wastewater contains too much biological material, the bacteria and other microorganisms in it cannot successfully decompose all the organic matter for food, growth and energy. This breaking down of the biological material requires oxygen; therefore, by measuring the amount of oxygen that is depleted from the sample as a result of such bacterial action, the balance within the aquatic environment can be measured. The BOD is a standard test, which takes five days to run, and is performed by introducing a population of bacteria and microorganisms to attempt to duplicate what would happen in a natural stream. The most commonly used method to estimate the total quantity of biodegradable organic material in wastewater. Compare to Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD).
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
A measure of the tendency for a chemical to accumulate. The ratio of the concentration of a substance in a living organism (mg/kg) to the concentration of that substance in the surrounding environment (mg/l for aquatic systems).
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
Exhibiting the capability of being broken down (or decomposed or metabolized) by microorganisms and reduced to organic or inorganic molecules which can be further utilized by living systems.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
The process by which a substance or material is broken down (or decomposed) by microorganisms and reduced to organic or inorganic molecules that can be further utilized by living systems. Biodegradation can be aerobic, if oxygen is present, or anaerobic, if no oxygen is present.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
The natural processes of ecosystems are a biological metabolism, making safe and healthy use of materials in cycles of abundance.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
A biodegradable material posing no immediate or eventual hazard to living systems that can be used for human purposes and can safely return to the environment to feed environmental processes.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
Anything produced in an industrial or biological process in addition to the principal product; a secondary and sometimes unexpected or unintended result.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
An information system developed by the California Resources Agency to facilitate access to a variety of electronic data describing California’s diverse environments.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
A causal relationship has been established between exposure to the agent and human cancer (MAK 1 or TLV A1 or IARC Group 1).
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
A known animal carcinogen, but carcinogenicity in humans has not been definitely proven (MAK 2 or TLV A2 or IARC Group 2A).
Source: MBCD
Category: Green
A number uniquely identifying each pure chemical compound.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
When a body of wastewater contains too much biological material, the bacteria and other microorganisms in it cannot successfully decompose all the organic matter for food, growth and energy. This breaking down of the biological material requires oxygen; therefore, by measuring the amount of oxygen that is depleted from the sample as a result of such bacterial action, the balance within the aquatic environment can be measured. Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) is a test that adds a strong chemical oxidizing agent to the wastewater sample in order to estimate the result of bacterial action. Although it is completely artificial, it is considered to yield a result that may be used as the basis on which to calculate a reasonably accurate and reproducible estimate of the oxygen-demanding properties of a wastewater. The COD’s advantages (compared to the BOD test) are that it takes under three hours for completion and is not subject to the interference from toxic materials that can affect the results of the BOD. Both of these are standard tests for estimating the health of an aquatic environment.
Source: CT Glossary
Category: Green
A compound consisting of chlorine, fluorine and carbon. CFCs are very stable in the troposphere. CFCs are commonly used as refrigerants, solvents and foam-blowing agents; uses of CFCs in aerosols are prohibited due to ozone depleting potential.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Chromium is a steely-gray chemical element that has a high melting point and is often used in dyes, paints, and tanning of leather. It has an acute toxicity that can lead to organ failure in humans and it is also a carcinogen.
Source: Wikipedia
Category: Green
The federal statute that regulates air emissions from area, stationary and mobile sources. This law authorizes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to establish National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) to protect public health and the environment.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
The Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, as amended in 1977, became commonly known as the Clean Water Act. The act established the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
The CT indicates the time needed to eliminate or biodegrade a substance to a certain percentage in an organism. For example, the CT50 indicates the time needed to eliminate 50% of a certain substance, analogous to the half-life time measure t1/2.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
A measure of the climate influencing characteristics of a substance. All compounds that contribute to global warming are listed here. Examples include carbon dioxide, methane, CFCs and sulfur hexafluoride.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
A type of manufacturing process that utilizes a cyclical material flow in order to minimize waste.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Possessing the ability to break down into, or otherwise become part of, usable compost (e.g., soil-conditioning material, mulch) in a safe and timely manner.
Source: www.ftc.govos/1998/9804/63fr24240.pdf
Category: Green
A 1980 federal statute that created the Superfund program and established a trust fund for the cleanup of abandoned and uncontrolled hazardous waste sites.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
The column in the periodic chart of the elements that begins with Fluorine contains the halogens. These elements, when combined with organic compounds, form halogenated organic compounds. Most of these compounds are toxic, carcinogenic, persistent, ozone.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
The Council on Environmental Quality coordinates federal environmental efforts. CEQ reports annually to the President on the state of the environment; oversees federal agency implementation of the environmental impact assessment process; and acts as a referee when agencies disagree over the adequacy of such assessments.
Source: The White House Website
Category: Green
Water fleas of the genus Daphnia can be found in most ponds and streams. They feed upon microscopic particles of organic matter and are in turn food for fish and other aquatic organisms. Daphnia Toxicity is a measure of a substance’s toxicity when consumed by these water fleas. A common measuring tool for Daphnia Toxicity is EC50 (“effective concentration”), which is the concentration of a substance in the water required to immobilize 50 percent of the test animals. If EC50 < 10 mg/liter, the substance is named Daphnia Toxic.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
Materials that have been designated by the DOT to pose an unreasonable risk to human health, safety and/or property when transported.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Designing a product to be dismantled for easier maintenance, repair, recovery and reuse of components and materials.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
The most widely used plasticisers, primarily to make soft and flexible PVC for applications in the automotive, construction, textile, and medical industries. Can cause birth defects and cancer, based on animal test data.
Source: Chemicalland21.com
Category: Green
The practice of recycling a material in such a way that much of its inherent value is lost (for example, recycling plastic into park benches).
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
MBDC’s strategy for designing human industry that is safe, profitable and regenerative, producing economic, ecological and social value.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
The ability to produce and deliver desirable, competitively priced goods and services while progressively reducing the ecological impacts of these actions; Coined in 1992 by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development WBCSD.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
A product or process designed to embody the intelligence of natural systems (such as nutrient cycling, interdependence, abundance, diversity, solar power, regeneration).
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
The median exposure concentration (EC50) is the median concentration of a substance that causes some effect in 50 percent of the test animals.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
The total quantity of mass of materials required to produce, recycle or dispose of raw material and products.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
The federal statute (of 1986) that is the third part of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986, also known as SARA Title III. This law requires facilities to report the chemicals that they store, established the State Emergency Response Commission (SERC) and the Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPC) and led to the adoption of the OSHA HAZWOPER standard.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
A voluntary rating system for textile factories developed by The American Textile Manufacturers Institute.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
A substance that mimics, blocks or interferes with hormones and their production, metabolism and excretion causing malfunction of the endocrine system, which can lead to malfunction of the reproductive, nervous and immune systems.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
Enviro-Mark was developed in the United Kingdom to provide an Environmental Management System (EMS) accessible to all organizations. Enviro-Mark provides businesses with a framework to systematically assess their performance against agreed standards. Their are five standards, and achievement of each is verified by an external audit.
Source: Landcare Research
Category: Green
The complex of physical, chemical and biotic factors (such as climate, soil and living things) that act upon an organism or an ecological community and ultimately determine its form and survival.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Federal laws and regulations (including NEPA, the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969) require the federal government to evaluate effects of its actions on the environment and to consider alternative courses of action. An EIS is the required document that describes the positive and negative impacts on the environment as a result of a proposed action, impacts of alternatives and ways to mitigate the impacts. The Council for Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations stipulates the recommended format and content of Environmental Impact Statements.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
An industry-developed and driven management structure that prioritizes compliance with environmental policy objectives and targets effective implementation of environmentally-focused procedures; a key feature of an EMS is the preparation of documented systems, procedures and instructions to ensure effective communication and continuity of such implementation. ISO 14001 specifies the actual requirements for an EMS standard and is the most widely recognized system of this type.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
The U.S. federal agency established in July of 1970 to protect human health and to safeguard the natural environment, air, water and land upon which life depends; works closely with other federal agencies, state and local governments and Indian tribes to develop and enforce regulations under existing environmental laws; provides leadership in the nation’s environmental science, research, education and assessment efforts; and is responsible for researching and setting national standards for a variety of environmental programs and delegates to states and tribes; responsible for issuing permits, and monitoring and enforcing compliance.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Founded by Michael Braungart in 1987. The Environmental Protection Encouragement Agency applies Cradle to Cradle methodology to design of new processes, products and services. Headquarters are located in Hamburg, Germany.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Products or services that have a lesser or reduced effect on human health and the environment when compared with competing products or services that serve the same purpose. This comparison may consider raw materials acquisition, production, manufacturing, packaging, distribution, reuse, operation, maintenance or disposal of the product or service.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
A labeling system using a flower symbol to designate products that have been checked by independent bodies and certified compliant with strict ecological and performance criteria.
Source: www.eco-label.com
Category: Green
Excessive growth of algal blooms in streams, lakes and other waterways due to the addition of excessive amounts of plant nutrients (primarily phosphorus, nitrogen and carbon), which often results from fertilizer runoff and the addition of untreated sewage to waterways; causes the depletion of oxygen from the water and, in turn, kills the fish and other oxygen-dependent organisms that live in the water.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Any one of over 366 hazardous chemicals on a list compiled by the EPA to provide a focus for state and local emergency planning.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
The U.S. federal agency with regulatory and enforcement authority directed towards stopping actions that threaten consumers’ opportunities to exercise informed choices.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Several Genera and Species of fish found in lakes, ponds and streams that are part of the food chain are tested for their reaction to chemical exposure. Chemicals that kill fish are considered dangerous to aquatic eco-systems due to the possible food chain effects and food source depletion. Fish Toxicity is a measure of a substance’s toxicity when consumed by these various types of fish. A common measuring tool is LC50 (“lethal concentration”), which is the concentration of a substance in the water required to kill fifty (50) percent of the fish test population. If LC50 < 10 mg/L, the substance is considered fish toxic.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
The measurement of a fabric’s performance when it is exposed to specific sources of ignition.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is a multi-stakeholder process and independent institution whose mission is to develop and disseminate globally applicable Sustainability Reporting Guidelines.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
A manufactured fiber fA scale used to relate a compound to the CO2 equivalents to measure the potential heating effects on the atmosphere.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
An adjective used to describe something that is perceived to be beneficial to the environment.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
A certification and labeling program for interior products and building materials in reference to indoor air quality.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Certain gases (including water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone and several classes of halogenated carbons that contain fluorine, chlorine and bromine) that allow solar radiation to reach Earth’s surface and become absorbed, yet trap thermal radiation leaving the earth’s surface. Outgoing thermal radiation absorbed by these gases heats the atmosphere. The atmosphere then emits thermal radiation both outward into space and downward to Earth, further warming the surface.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
A topical stain resistant finish that utilizes 7-10 times fewer fluorocarbons than similar finishes and releases no VOC emissions. The technology is based on amorphous silica nanoparticles that permanently adhere to a fabric in a mesh network that prevents particles from becoming airborne.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
The amount of time it takes half of an initial concentration of substance to degrade in the environment.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
Those pollutants that cause or may cause cancer, other serious health effects (such as reproductive effects or birth defects) or adverse environmental and ecological effects. The EPA is required to control 188 HAPs including dioxin; asbestos; toluene; metals such as cadmium, mercury, chromium and lead; benzene, which is found in gasoline; perchlorethlyene, which is emitted from some dry cleaning facilities; and methylene chloride, which is used as a solvent and paint stripper by a number of industries. Also known as toxic air pollutants.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Any material or substance, which if improperly handled or disposed of, can cause harm to the health and well-being of humans or the environment.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Defined by the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission (NOHSC) as a substance, which has the potential, through being used at work, to harm the health or safety of persons in the workplace. (A hazardous substance is, essentially, a hazardous material, but NOHSC uses the term substance.)
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Defined by RCRA as any waste that exhibits specific hazardous characteristics such as ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity or toxicity.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Any metallic chemical element that has a relatively high density and is toxic at low concentrations. (Examples are mercury, cadmium, arsenic, chromium, thallium and lead). Semi-metallic elements (such as antimony, arsenic, selenium and tellurium) are often included in this classification.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
A compound that consists of hydrogen, chlorine, fluorine and carbon. The HCFCs are a class of replacements for CFCs. They contain chlorine and thus deplete stratospheric ozone, but to a much lesser extent than CFCs. Production of HCFCs are currently being phased out of production.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Chemical, physical or biological contaminants in indoor air.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
An interdisciplinary framework for designing and operating industrial systems as living systems interdependent with natural systems.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
A manufactured fiber from cellulose acetate.
Source: Oeko-Tex Association
Category: Green
A non-governmental organization located in Geneva, Switzerland, chartered to develop voluntary technical standards that aim to make the development, manufacture and supply of goods and services safer, cleaner and more efficient.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
A group of ISO standards that address environmental issues. Includes standards for Environmental Management Systems (EMS) (ISO 14001), environmental and EMS auditing, environmental labeling, performance evaluation and life-cycle assessment. Compliance results in “ISO 14000 Certification.”
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
A group of ISO standards and guidelines that relate to quality management systems. Currently includes three quality standards: ISO 19001: 2000 establishes requirements; ISO 9000: 2000 and ISO 9004: 2000 establishes guidelines. All of these are process standards, not product standards. Compliance results in “ISO 9000 Certification.”
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
For the testing of skin irritation with the standard Draize test, rabbits are used. The chemical is applied to the rabbit skin and usually kept in contact for 4 hours. The degree of skin irritation is scored for erythema, eschar and edema formation and corrosive action. These dermal irritation observations are repeated at various intervals after the chemical has been removed. Mucous membrane irritation is measured in a similar manner. Site specific mechanical responses within the respiratory tract and eyes are measured, and a chemical is classified as an irritant based on the conclusions of these tests.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
A point-based rating system developed by The U.S. Green Building Council Rating System for Sustainable Development (USGBC) to assess new and existing commercial buildings for a variety of earth-friendly features.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
An LC50 value is the concentration of a specific material in the air that will kill 50% of the test subjects (animals, usually) when administered as a single exposure (typically 1 or 4 hours) under specified laboratory conditions. This value allows comparison of the relative toxicity of different materials.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
The median lethal dose (LD50) is the statistically derived median dose of a substance that can be expected to cause death in 50 percent of the test animals.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
A technique for assessing the potential environmental impacts of a product by examining all the material and energy inputs and outputs at each life cycle stage.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
The amortized annual cost of a product, including capital costs, installation costs, operating costs, maintenance costs and disposal costs discounted over the lifetime of the product.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
The part of the LCA process that quantifies the energy, input of raw material and releases of material into the environment that are associated with each stage of production.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
A standard launched in 2006 that defines measures of sustainability in the built environment and acts to diminish the gap between current limits and ideal solutions. Advanced by the Cascadia Region Green Building Council and the International Living Future Institute (formerly known as the International Living Building Institute), this certification program covers all building at all scales with the goal of a future that is Socially Just, Culturally Rich and Ecologically Benign.
Source: International Living Future Institute
Category: Green
A group of one or more chemicals that together comprise a component or input to a finished product.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
A document required by OSHA that contains information about hazardous chemicals in the workplace in order to insure the safety and health of the user at all stages of a material’s manufacture, storage, use and disposal.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
MBDC is a product and process design firm that was founded in 1995 by William McDonough and Dr. Michael Braungart to promote and shape what they call the “Next Industrial Revolution” through the introduction of a new design paradigm called Cradle to Cradle Design, and the implementation of eco-effective design principles.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
MBDC is a product and process design firm that was founded in 1995 by William McDonough and Dr. Michael Braungart to promote and shape what they call the “Next Industrial Revolution” through the introduction of a new design paradigm called Cradle to Cradle Design, and the implementation of eco-effective design principles.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
This is a substance that may cause hereditary disorders in offspring due to mutations in the chromosomes of the male or female reproductive cells. These mutations can be alterations in the structure or number of chromosomes, or nucleotide substitutions known as point mutations.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
Air quality standards required by the Clean Air Act that monitor six pollutants, known as criteria pollutants, considered harmful to public health and the environment. The Clean Air Act established two types of national air quality standards: primary standards set limits to protect public health, including the health of sensitive populations such as asthmatics, children and the elderly; and secondary standards set limits to protect public welfare, including protection against decreased visibility, damage to animals, crops, vegetation and buildings. The EPA sets and monitors the levels for these standards.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
An act that requires federal agencies to integrate environmental values into their decision making processes by considering the environmental impacts of their proposed actions and reasonable alternatives to those actions. To meet this requirement, federal agencies prepare a detailed statement known as an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). EPA reviews and comments on EISs prepared by other federal agencies, maintains a national filing system for all EISs, and assures that its own actions comply with NEPA.
Source: National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
Category: Green
Pollution caused by rainfall or snowmelt moving over and through the ground. As the runoff moves, it picks up and carries away natural and human-made pollutants, finally depositing them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters and underground sources of drinking water.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Pollution caused by rainfall or snowmelt moving over and through the ground. As the runoff moves, it picks up and carries away natural and human-made pollutants, finally depositing them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters and underground sources of drinking water.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
An energy source, such as oil or natural gas, or a natural resource, such as a metallic ore, that cannot be replenished or replaced after it has been used.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
NSF International is an independent, not-for-profit organization that provides standards development, product certification, auditing, education and risk management for public health and the environment. Manufacturers, regulators and consumers alike look to NSF International for the development of public health standards and certification that help protect the world’s food, water, health and consumer products.
Source: NSF International
Category: Green
Sustainability Assessment for Commercial Furnishings Fabric addresses the environmental, economic and social aspects of furnishing fabric products, including woven, non-woven, bonded and knitted fabrics used for upholstery (e.g. office and hotel furniture), vertical (e.g. drapery or panel systems fabric) and decorative top of bed applications (e.g. bedspreads) commonly used in institutional, hospitality and office settings. The standard also incorporates life cycle assessment criteria, which measures inputs, outputs and environmental impacts of textile products across their entire lifespan (cradle to grave).
Source: NSF International
Category: Green
The federal agency established in 1971, to ensure safe and healthful workplaces in the U.S. through leadership, enforcement, outreach, education and compliance assistance.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
A measure of the tendency of a chemical to partition between an aliphatic hydrocarbon system and an aqueous system. Often used as a predictor for bioaccumulation potential.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
A European standard for the impact of textiles on human ecology and the environment.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
An act, process or methodology of making something (as a design, system or decision) as fully perfect, functional or effective as possible.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
A bluish gas that is harmful to breathe. Nearly 90% of the Earth’s ozone is in the stratosphere and is referred to as the ozone layer. Ozone absorbs a band of ultraviolet radiation called UVB that is particularly harmful to living organisms. The ozone layer prevents most UVB from reaching the ground.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Substances that release chlorine or bromine atoms when they break down which then deplete ozone. CFCs, HCFCs, halons, methyl bromide, carbon tetrachloride and methyl chloroform are ODSs, which are generally very stable in the troposphere and only degrade under intense ultraviolet light in the stratosphere.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
This is the measure of the ozone-depleting characteristics of the substance. Ozone depletion in the upper atmosphere leads to an increase of UV-radiation on the Earth and, as a result, an increase in skin cancer. CFCs are included here.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
This is a measure of a substance’s ability to remain as a discrete chemical entity in the environment for a prolonged period of time. A common measuring tool for persistence is “half-life” (t1/2), which is the amount of time required for half of the substance to break down. If halflife is greater than 30 days in the air, or if half-life is greater than 50 days in soil, water, or any other media, the substance is considered to be persistent.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
Chemicals that are toxic, persist in the environment and bioaccumulate in food chains and therefore pose risks to human health and ecosystems.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
The release of harmful substances that react to form ground-level ozone, resulting in vegetation damage and human health problems.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Any of various organic compounds produced by polymerization, capable of being molded, extruded, cast into various shapes and films or drawn into filaments used as textile fibers.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Pollution that originates from specific, known sources such as municipal and industrial facilities, bypasses and overflows from municipal sewage systems, non-permitted and illegal dischargers, and water that is generated through oil and gas operations.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Source reduction as defined in the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 13102), and other practices that reduce or eliminate the creation of pollutants through: (a) increased efficiency in the use of raw materials, energy, water or other resources; or (b) protection of natural resources by conservation.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
A thermoplastic material that is clear, tough and has good gas and moisture barrier properties. Used in soft drink bottles and other blow molded containers, although sheet applications are increasing. Cleaned, recycled PET flakes and pellets are used in some spinning fiber for carpet yarns, fiberfill and geo-textiles. Other applications include strapping, molding compounds and both food and non-food containers.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Synthetic thermoplastic polymer made from vinyl chloride. In addition to its stable physical properties, PVC has excellent transparency, chemical resistance, long-term stability, good weatherability, flow characteristics and stable electrical properties. However, its stability makes it nearly environmentally indestructible. PVC also releases hydrochloric acid and other toxic compounds when produced, used or burned.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
An adjective used to describe all or part of a consumer product that has reached the end of its useful life in that form.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
A material or finished product that has served its intended use and has been discarded for disposal or recovery, having completed its life as a consumer item.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
The recycling of materials generated from residential and consumer waste for use in new or similar purposes, such as converting wastepaper from offices into corrugated boxes or soda bottles into polyester fiber.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Recovered industrial and manufacturing materials that are diverted from municipal solid waste for the purpose of collection, recycling and disposition. Post-industrial materials are part of the broader category of recovered materials and include print overruns, over issue publications and obsolete inventories.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
A product designed for safe and complete return to the environment, which becomes nutrients for living systems. The product of consumption design strategy allows products to offer effectiveness without the liability of materials that must be recycled or “managed” after use.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
A product that is used by the customer, formally or in effect, but owned by the manufacturer. The manufacturer maintains ownership of valuable material assets for continual reuse while the customer receives the service of the product without assuming its material liability. Products that can utilize valuable but potentially hazardous materials can be optimized as Products of Service.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
The responsible and ethical management of the health, safety and environmental aspects of a product throughout its life cycle.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Synthetic waste from any source such as carpet, fabric, yarn or soda bottles that is melted down and re-extruded.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
A smooth, soft-luster plain-weave silk or rayon fabric similar to habutai.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Waste materials and by-products which have been recovered or diverted from solid waste, but the term does not include those materials and by-products generated from, and commonly reused within, an original manufacturing process (42 U.S.C. 6903 (19)).
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
The ability of a product or material to be recovered from, or otherwise diverted from, the solid waste stream for the purpose of recycling.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
A product made in whole or part from material recovered from the waste stream.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
The series of activities, including collection, separation and processing, by which products or other materials are recovered from the solid waste stream. The products are then used in the form of raw materials in the manufacture of new products, other than fuel for producing heat or power by combustion.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
REACH is a new European Community Regulation on chemicals and their safe use (EC 1907/2006). It deals with the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemical substances. The new law entered into force on 1 June 2007. The aim of REACH is to improve the protection of human health and the environment through the better and earlier identification of the intrinsic properties of chemical substances. At the same time, innovative capability and competitiveness of the EU chemicals industry should be enhanced. The benefits of the REACH system will come gradually, as more and more substances are phased into REACH.
Source: European Commission
Category: Green
Capable of being replaced by natural ecological cycles or sound management practices.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Energy derived from sources that do not become depleted, such as the sun, wind, oceans, rivers, eligible biomass and heat from the earth’s interior.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Fiber made from fabric which was never put into use.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
The federal statute that is an amendment to the Solid Waste Disposal Act (of 1965). The four primary goals of RCRA are as follows: protection of human health and the environment from potential hazards associated with hazardous waste disposal; conservation of energy and natural resources; reduction of the amount of hazardous waste generated; and enforcement of environmentally sound waste management practices. Adopted by Congress in 1976.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Capable of being used again after salvaging, special treatment or processing.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
SCS, an international organization, provides independent certification and verfication of environmental, sustainable, stewardship, food quality, food safety and food purity claims.
Source: SCS
Category: Green
The ability of a substance to induce an immunologically mediated (allergic) response.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
Instances in which building occupants experience acute health and discomfort effects that appear to be linked to time spent in a building, but no specific illness or cause can be identified. The complaints may be localized in a particular room or zone, or may be widespread throughout the building. In contrast, the term building related illness (BRI) is used when symptoms of diagnosable illness are identified and can be attributed directly to airborne building contaminants.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
A measure of the ability of a compound to assist in the absorption of chemicals into the skin.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Non-liquid, non-soluble materials from sources ranging from municipal garbage to industrial wastes that may contain complex and hazardous substances. Solid wastes also include sewage sludge, agricultural refuse, demolition wastes and mining residues. Technically, solid waste also refers to liquids and gases in containers.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
The U.S. government’s federal program to clean up the nation’s uncontrolled hazardous waste sites. The EPA administers the Superfund program in cooperation with individual states and tribal governments. The federal office that oversees management of the program is the EPA Office of Emergency and Remedial Response (OERR).
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Federal statute (of 1986) that increased the size of the Superfund trust fund for cleanup activities and increased the authority of the EPA in enforcement and cleanup activities. Title III of SARA is known as the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (see EPCRA).
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
The characteristic of a product, material or process to be sustainable.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Of, relating to, or being a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
That which meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (The United Nations Brundtland Commission, 1987).
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Manufacturing processes that have no negative impact on natural ecosystems or resources.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
A practice (such as manufacturing) that maintains a given condition without destroying or depleting natural resources.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
A product that has no negative impact on natural ecosystems or resources.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Modeled on natural systems, the technical metabolism is MBDC’s term for the processes of human industry that maintain and perpetually reuse valuable synthetic and mineral materials in closed loops.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
A material that remains in a closed-loop system of manufacture, reuse and recovery (the technical metabolism), maintaining its value through many product life cycles.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
A substance shown to cause damage to the embryo or fetus through exposure by the mother (MAK-list: Pregnancy risk group, category A).
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
Currently available information indicates that a risk of damage to the embryo or fetus can be considered probable when the mother is exposed to this substance (MAK-list: Pregnancy risk group, category B).
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
Para-phthalic acid, [C6H4(COOH2)]. a white crystalline water-insoluble carboxylic acid used in making polyester resins, fibers and films by combination with glycols.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
The use or release of substances that have toxic impact on land species.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
An international organization founded in Sweden in 1989 that uses a science-based, systems framework to help organizations, individuals and communities take steps towards sustainability.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
This emerging movement of production and commerce eliminates the concept of waste, uses energy from renewable sources and celebrates cultural and biological diversity. The promise of the Next Industrial Revolution is a system of production that fulfills desires for economic and ecological abundance and social equity in both the short and long terms becoming sustaining (not just sustainable) for all generations.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
A type of polyurethane with notable strength and elasticity that is also less flammable compared to other polyurethane fabrics.
Source: Brentano, Inc.
Category: Fiber, Green
The amount of an extremely hazardous substance present at a facility above which the facility’s owner/operator must give emergency planning notification to local, state and federal emergency planning commissions.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
TSS represents the total amount of solid matter in a representative water sample that is retained on a membrane filter. It includes all sediment and other constituents that are fluid suspended. A commonly used method for measuring water pollution.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Poisonous substances in the air that come from natural sources (for example, radon gas from the ground) or from manmade sources (for example, chemical compounds given off by factory smokestacks) and can harm the environment or human health.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
An EPA database (available to the public) that contains information on toxic chemical releases and other waste management activities reported annually by certain covered industry groups and by federal facilities. This inventory was established under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA) and expanded by the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
The federal statute (of 1976) that authorized the EPA to track the 75,000 industrial chemicals currently produced or imported into the United States. EPA repeatedly screens these chemicals and can require reporting or testing of those that may pose an environmental or human-health hazard. EPA can ban the manufacture and import of chemicals that pose an unreasonable risk.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
A measure of how poisonous or “deadly” a substance is during initial exposure. A common measuring tool for acute toxicity is LD50 (“lethal dose”), which is the dose required to kill 50 percent of the test animals. If LD50 < 200 mg/kg, the substance is named “acutely toxic”.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
This is a measure of how poisonous a substance can become over time with repeated exposure. A substance may have low acute toxicity (i.e., little harmful effects from the initial exposure) but may become poisonous over time with repeated exposure. This may be due to accumulation of the substance or due to repeated minor damaging of target organs.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
A commonly used test for determining the potential of certain metals and chemicals for their potential to leach out of an unlined disposal site into groundwater at toxic levels; identified in RCRA, 40 CFR Part 261.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
A coalition of representatives from the building industry that promotes buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable and are healthful places to live and work.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Certain hazardous, widely generated materials such as batteries, pesticides and thermostats. The EPA adopted the Universal Waste Rule (1993), which amended the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) regulations in order to allow for streamlined management of this category of hazardous wastes (58 FR 9346).
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Materials to be eliminated from human use because they cannot be maintained safely in either biological or technical metabolisms.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
Any compound that contains carbon and becomes a gas at room temperature. VOC emissions are regulated because they contribute to smog formation. The most common sources of VOC emissions are from storage and use of liquid and gaseous fuels, the storage and use of solvents and the combustion of fuels and can include housekeeping and maintenance products and building and furnishing materials. In sufficient quantities VOC emissions can cause eye, nose, and throat irritations, headaches, dizziness, visual disorders, memory impairment; some are known animal carcinogens; some are suspected or known human carcinogens.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
A principle of natural systems and MBDC that eliminates the concept of waste. In this design strategy, all materials are viewed as continuously valuable, circulating in closed loops of production, use and recycling.
Source: MBDC
Category: Green
Any change in the design, manufacturing, purchase or use of materials or products (including packaging) to reduce their amount or toxicity before they are discarded. Waste prevention also refers to the reuse of products or materials.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Preventing or decreasing the amount of waste being generated through waste prevention, recycling or purchasing recycled and environmentally preferable products.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
Water carrying dissolved or suspended solids from homes, farms, businesses and industries.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green
A coalition of 160 international companies chartered to promote sustainable development through economic growth, ecological balance and social progress.
Source: ACT Glossary
Category: Green