waste temporary storage: area that provisionally holds generated waste in order to keep it in safe conditions that make it possible to prevent health risks, protect environmental quality and public health, until collection, recovery, treatment, management and/or final disposal.
life-cycle analysis: tool for evaluating the environmental performance of a system or process, promoting improvements to a product or service, and making a decision focused on the different stages from resource extraction through the end of its useful life.
green purchasing: institutional procurement method that prioritizes goods with environmentally sustainable characteristics, giving preference to products and materials that are reusable, recyclable, biodegradable, or recoverable, and incorporating life-cycle criteria.
sustainable purchasing: purchasing that has the greatest possible positive environmental, social, and economic impact throughout the life cycle.
final disposal: synonymous with elimination; the last stage of the waste management process, consisting of ensuring its processing or disposal in a sanitary and environmentally safe manner, in compliance with current legislation.
labeling: mandatory information included on any label, tag, mark, image, or other descriptive or graphic material that has been written, printed, stenciled, marked, embossed or engraved, or affixed to the waste container, for the purpose of identifying the waste for classification, preventing its risks (hazardous waste), or promoting its recovery.
source: specific product, service, process, or activity that emits/generates waste after products have been consumed and used.
waste generator: ICE project, process, or department that produces waste in carrying out its service, production process, or operational activity within the institution.
comprehensive waste management: coordinated and interrelated set of regulatory, operational, financial, administrative, educational, planning, monitoring, and evaluation actions for managing waste from its generation through final disposal.
institutional environmental manager: natural or legal person who performs professional work in environmental management, for preparing the Institutions’ Environmental Management Programs and their evaluation instruments, as well as in their review, approval, control, and monitoring process.
GFSE: Finance and Corporate Services Management.
ICE: Costa Rican Electricity Institute.
waste management hierarchy: order of preference for management, which considers waste prevention as the first alternative, followed by reuse, recycling of the waste or one or more of its components, leaving elimination (final disposal) as the last alternative.
waste management: set of operational and administrative measures to comply with the requirements of national legislation on waste management. It includes separation, classification, collection, storage, transportation, treatment, and disposal of waste.
institutional environmental management program (PGAI): planning instrument based on the principles of an Environmental Management System, formulated from a diagnosis of the institution’s environmental aspects, such as energy efficiency, waste, and climate change. It also establishes measures to prevent, mitigate, compensate for, or restore environmental impacts within the applicable time periods.
waste: solid, semisolid, liquid, or gaseous material that its generator or holder must or wishes to dispose of and that may or must be recovered or responsibly treated, or otherwise managed through final-disposal systems.
waste subject to special management: waste that, because of its composition, transportation needs, storage conditions, forms of use, or recovery value, or a combination thereof, poses significant health risks and systematic degradation of ecosystem quality, and therefore must be removed from the ordinary waste stream.
ordinary waste: household-type waste generated in homes and any other source, with compositions similar to household waste. Waste subject to special management or hazardous waste is excluded.
hazardous waste: waste that, because of its chemical reactivity and toxic, explosive, corrosive, radioactive, biological, bioinfectious, flammable, ecotoxic, or environmentally persistent characteristics, or because of its exposure time, may cause harm to health or the environment. Hazardous waste also includes waste designated as such by the Ministry of Health, in coordination with the Ministry of Environment and Energy, as well as containers, packaging, and wrapping that have been in contact with it. Containers, packaging, and wrapping that have undergone prior decontamination treatment under the current regulations are excluded.
recoverable nonhazardous waste: classes of waste that do not exhibit hazardous characteristics but come from nonhousehold sources and can be recovered for production processes, the protection of health, and the environment.
nonrecoverable waste: material, object, substance, or item without direct economic value (remuneration); however, it may entail a cost to the generator for recycling, treatment, and final disposal.
Recoverable waste: waste that, because of its physical or chemical characteristics, can be recovered from ordinary or hazardous waste streams and, given the technological conditions prevailing in the country, can add value to production or artisanal processes.
extended producer responsibility: the producer’s and supplier’s responsibility for the product throughout its life cycle, including the postindustrial and post-consumer phases.
reuse: to use an object or product again, either for its original function or for a different purpose, before disposing of it.
SETRAN: Transportation Service.
treatment: method, technique, or process for changing physical, chemical, or biological characteristics so that waste suitable for recovery, nonhazardous waste, or less hazardous waste is produced for safe storage, transportation, or final disposal.
traceability: ability to follow the history, application, or location of an object. (INTE ISO 9000-2015). For purposes of this procedure, it means the history of the stages and destination of waste. It consists of all actions to locate and determine the status of waste, through controls, manifests, and certificates of destructibility, ensuring proper management and preventing improper practices and harm to the environment.
recovery of value: set of associated actions whose objective is to recover the value of waste by subjecting it to suitable processes so that it can be reintegrated into production processes as raw material, for the protection of the environment.