ASTM D5681-09 - 1.7.2009
 
Significance and Use

This terminology defines terms and specialized meanings of terms in the subject areas of waste and management of waste.

This terminology is not intended for subjects other than waste and waste management. For terms applicable to other subject areas, the appropriate terminology standard(s) should be consulted. See the current edition of the Compilation of ASTM Standard Definitions and the list of terminology standards cited therein.

Standards relating to subcategories of waste or waste management may use terms defined more narrowly than those included here. The more specialized terminology standards relating to the applicable specific subcategory, or terms defined within individual standards, or both, should be consulted for the exact meaning intended within a given standard.

The Thesaurus on Resource Recovery Terminology (Special Technical Publication (STP) 832) contains many terms and may be useful for those not listed in terminology standards. However, a definition in a standard terminology shall be considered governing when the term is used in the sense or meaning defined therein.

Statistical terms are not defined in this terminology to the extent that the terms, when used regarding waste and management of waste, have the same meanings as in Practice E 177 or Terminology E 456.

Regulatory terms are often developed by regulatory agencies for special regulatory purposes and may have technical content or meaning different from terms defined herein. When a regulatory term exists that differs in meaning from a term given here, the regulatory term should be considered to take precedence for regulatory matters.

 
1. Scope

1.1 This terminology contains standard definitions of terms used in the general area of waste and waste management. It is intended to promote understanding by providing precise technical definitions of terms used in the standards developed by Committee D34 and its subcommittees.

1.2 Terms used only within an individual standard, and having a meaning unique to that standard, may be defined or explained in the terminology section of that individual standard.

1.3 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.

 
2. Referenced Documents

D6063-11(2018)

Standard Guide for Sampling of Drums and Similar Containers by Field Personnel

D6250-98

Standard Practice for Derivation of Decision Point and Confidence Limit for Statistical Testing of Mean Concentration in Waste Management Decisions

D1129-24

Standard Terminology Relating to Water

D4439-25a

Standard Terminology for Geosynthetics (Includes all amendments and changes 9/30/2025).

D4448-01(2019)

Standard Guide for Sampling Ground-Water Monitoring Wells

D4547-20

Standard Guide for Sampling Waste and Soils for Volatile Organic Compounds

D4646-16(2023)

Standard Test Method for 24 h Batch-Type Measurement of Contaminant Sorption by Soils and Sediments

D4790-25

Standard Terminology of Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Related Chemicals

D4874-95(2001)

Standard Test Method for Leaching Solid Material in a Column Apparatus

D5120-90(1995)e1

Standard Test Method for Inhibition of Respiration in Microbial Cultures in the Activated Sludge Process

D5231-92(2024)

Standard Test Method for Determination of the Composition of Unprocessed Municipal Solid Waste

D5285-03

Standard Test Method for 24-Hour Batch-Type Measurement of Volatile Organic Sorption by Soils and Sediments (Withdrawn 2008)

D5368-13

Standard Test Methods for Gravimetric Determination of Total Solvent Extractable Content (TSEC) of Solid Waste Samples (Withdrawn 2014)

D5369-93(1998)

Standard Practice for Extraction of Solid Waste Samples for Chemical Analysis Using Soxhlet Extraction

D5468-02

Standard Test Method for Gross Calorific and Ash Value of Waste Materials

D5660-96

Standard Test Method for Assessing the Microbial Detoxification of Chemically Contaminated Water and Soil Using a Toxicity Test with a Luminescent Marine Bacterium

D5679-16(2024)

Standard Practice for Sampling Consolidated Solids in Drums or Similar Containers

D5680-14(2022)

Standard Practice for Sampling Unconsolidated Solids in Drums or Similar Containers

E850-10

Standard Guide for Characterization of Inorganic Process Wastes for Use as Structural Fill (Withdrawn 2019)

E884-82(2001)

Standard Practice for Sampling Airborne Microorganisms at Municipal Solid-Waste Processing Facilities

E868-82(1999)

Standard Test Methods for Conducting Performance Tests on Mechanical Conveying Equipment Used in Resource Recovery Systems

E889-82(2023)

Standard Test Method for Composition or Purity of a Solid Waste Materials Stream

E897-88(1998)

Standard Test Method for Volatile Matter in the Analysis Sample of Refuse-Derived Fuel

E1266-20

Standard Practice for Processing Mixtures of Lime, Fly Ash, and Heavy Metal Wastes in Structural Fills and Other Construction Applications

E1527-21

Standard Practice for Environmental Site Assessments: Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process

E1528-22

Standard Practice for Limited Environmental Due Diligence: Transaction Screen Process

E1248-90(2025)

Standard Practice for Shredder Explosion Protection

E856-83(1998)

Standard Definitions of Terms and Abbreviations Relating to Physical and Chemical Characteristics of Refuse Derived Fuel

E929-83(1999)

Standard Test Method for Measuring Electrical Energy Requirements of Processing Equipment

E943-23

Standard Terminology Relating to Biological Effects and Environmental Fate

E949-88(1996)

Standard Test Method for Total Moisture in a Refuse-Derived Fuel Laboratory Sample

E953-E953M-16

Standard Practice for Fusibility of Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF) Ash

E955-88(1996)

Standard Test Method for Thermal Characteristics of Refuse-Derived Fuel Macrosamples

E959-83(2018)

Standard Test Method for Characterizing the Performance of Refuse Size-Reduction Equipment

E1138-89

Terminology of Technical Aspects of Products Liability Litigation (Withdrawn 1995)

D6842-02

Standard Guide for Designing Cost-Effective Sampling and Measurement Plans by Use of Estimated Uncertainty and Its Components in Waste Management Decision-Making

D6956-17(2026)

Standard Guide for Demonstrating and Assessing Whether a Chemical Analytical Measurement System Provides Analytical Results Consistent with Their Intended Use

D6982-22

Standard Practice for Detecting Hot Spots Using Point-Net (Grid) Search Patterns

E135-26a

Standard Terminology Relating to Analytical Chemistry for Metals, Ores, and Related Materials (Includes all amendments and changes 8/6/2026).

E702-21

Standard Specification for Municipal Ferrous Scrap

E177-26a

Standard Practice for Use of the Terms Precision and Bias in ASTM Test Methods (Includes all amendments and changes 5/14/2026).

E456-13a(2022)e1

Standard Terminology Relating to Quality and Statistics (Includes all amendments and changes 4/16/2024).

E708-25

Standard Specification for Waste Glass as a Raw Material for the Manufacture of Glass Containers

E711-23e1

Standard Test Method for Gross Calorific Value of Refuse-Derived Fuel by the Bomb Calorimeter (Includes all amendments and changes 4/18/2023).

E828-81(1997)

Standard Test Method for Designating the Size of RDF-3 From its Sieve Analysis

D5744-18(2024)

Standard Test Method for Laboratory Weathering of Solid Materials Using a Humidity Cell

D5745-25

Standard Guide for Developing and Implementing Interim and Early Actions for Waste Contamination Site Remediation

D5746-26

Standard Classification of Environmental Condition of Property Area Types, Including Explosives Safety for Federally-Owned Real Property

D5743-21

Standard Practice for Sampling Single or Multilayered Liquids, with or Without Solids, in Drums or Similar Containers

D5759-12(2020)

Standard Guide for Characterization of Coal Fly Ash and Clean Coal Combustion Fly Ash for Potential Uses

D5792-10(2023)

Standard Practice for Generation of Environmental Data Related to Waste Management Activities: Development of Data Quality Objectives

D5956-21

Standard Guide for Sampling Strategies for Heterogeneous Wastes

D6008-26

Standard Practice for Determining the Environmental Condition of Federal Property

D6044-21

Standard Guide for Representative Sampling for Management of Waste and Contaminated Media

D6051-15(2023)

Standard Guide for Composite Sampling and Field Subsampling for Environmental Waste Management Activities

D6270-25

Standard Practice for Use of Scrap Tires in Civil Engineering Applications

D6311-98(2022)

Standard Guide for Generation of Environmental Data Related to Waste Management Activities: Selection and Optimization of Sampling Design

D6323-19

Standard Guide for Laboratory Subsampling of Media Related to Waste Management Activities

D6346-17(2025)

Standard Guide for Accepting, Segregating, and Packaging Materials Collected Through Household Hazardous Waste Programs

D6538-12(2024)

Standard Guide for Sampling Wastewater with Automatic Samplers

D6582-00

Standard Guide for Ranked Set Sampling: Efficient Estimation of a Mean Concentration in Environmental Sampling

D6661-25

Standard Practice for Field Collection of Organic Compounds from Surfaces Using Wipe Sampling

D6700-19

Standard Guide for Use of Scrap Tires as Tire-Derived Fuel

D6759-24

Standard Practice for Sampling Liquids Using Grab and Discrete Depth Samplers