When it comes to sustainability, there’s a lot of jargon floating around so we’ve created a cheat sheet to help you avoid ‘greenwashing’ and make better choices.

Biodegradable Plastic

A form of plastic which breaks down more quickly than regular plastic. These often break down more quickly into the environment as microplastics and can contaminate recycling.

Bio-Plastic 

A catch-all term that often refers to a form of plastic made from renewable sources like corn starch or sugar cane. They often end up in landfill as there are limited ways to process or recycle them at their end of life.

Bio-Vinyl

A PVC compound that uses alternative ingredients (like recycled cooking oil) instead of fossil-fuel oil to create records. Manufacturers claim this can reduce emissions from PVC by up to 90%. There are many different options using different oils, with varying quality levels.

Carbon Emissions

Carbon dioxide (CO2) gas/emissions released into the atmosphere following the burning of fossil fuels. It is the largest source of greenhouse gases contributing to global warming.

Carbon Footprint

The quantity of carbon dioxide emissions generated directly or indirectly from an activity, individual, or organisation.

Carbon Neutral

When an activity or organisation balances the amount of greenhouse gases it emits with an equivalent reduction in another area. This is typically done via the use of carbon offsets.

Carbon Offset

A way of compensating for your climate impact - it doesn’t stop or reduce it, but supports others to reduce the impact somewhere else on your behalf. It’s often completed by purchasing carbon credits from a supplier. In return they use your money for initiatives like planting trees or building renewable energy infrastructure. Check out our Offset Guide for more information here.

Circular Economy

A concept that’s being adopted in communities in Australia and overseas, keeping items in circulation reducing waste and landfill. It promotes the production of high quality materials and products which can be readily reused and repurposed, as well as circular supply chains where waste is used as an input for other production.

Closed Loop

A system where post-consumer products are recycled and reused to create a new version of the same product.

Compostable

A product made by organic material which breaks down and degrades under certain conditions and in a certain timeframe. All compostable materials are biodegradable, but not all biodegradable materials are compostable. There are different types of compostable products:

• Home Compostable
  A material which can degrade in home compost.
• Industrially Compostable
  A material which can only degrade using industrial composting processes.

While compostable items have been praised by some, there’s an emerging body of evidence that compostable products may not be the best solution and can leak PFAS (forever chemicals) into the environment.

COP
An annual international climate meeting held by the United Nations. COP stands for “Conference of the Parties” and refers to the annual United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which aims to set targets and agreements to reduce global emissions and address climate change.

Downcycling

A process where a product is repurposed to create a product of lesser value than the original. This is a very common process. In fact, most ‘recycling’ is actually downcycling. Examples include cardboard recycled into toilet paper and plastic water bottles recycled into fleece or insulation.

FOGO

Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) refers to the kerbside waste collection services which turn food scraps and garden waste into compost, operating in some local districts in Australia.

Fossil Fuel

Refers to non-renewable energy sources like coal, oil and natural gas. Fossil Fuels create greenhouse gases when burnt, contributing to climate change.

FSC

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is a certification process which audits forestry practices. There are different levels of FSC certification available, use the Ethical Paper Guide for up-to-date advice on the best certified paper stock available. Remember, 100% recycled paper is always better than cutting down a tree.

Greenhouse Effect

The process of gases in the atmosphere trapping the sun’s heat. As the concentration of greenhouse gases increase, more heat is trapped causing Earth’s temperature to rise.

Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)

Greenhouse gases are the gases which trap heat in the atmosphere. The most common greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, and chlorofluorocarbons.

Greenwashing

When an organisation claims or advertises itself to be more environmentally friendly and sustainable than it truly is. Sadly, this is a common occurrence across businesses and governments.

Microplastics

Tiny pieces of plastic less than five millimetres in size. They occur from the breakdown of larger plastics and cause severe human health and environmental impacts. 

Net Zero

A balance between greenhouse gas emitted and greenhouse gas emissions taken out of the atmosphere. To avoid a dangerous global temperature rise of over 1.5C, we must get as close to zero emissions as quickly as possible.

Current net-zero government commitments across the world fall far short of keeping the world under 1.5C degrees of warming. And many governments are not meeting those commitments.

Paris Agreement

A legally binding treaty on climate change. Signed in 2015 by governments across the world, its goal is to hold “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels” and pursue efforts “to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.”

Under the agreement, each signatory country must communicate actions they will take to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. These actions are expected to increase in ambition every five years to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the globe.

At present, countries are not committing to the level of ambition and action required in order to achieve this goal.

PFAS

Commonly referred to as ‘forever chemicals,’ PFAS stands for Per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances. A group of over 14,000 human-made chemicals which are heavily resistant to heat, water, grease and stains. 

Regularly found in household products like frying pans and food packaging, there is emerging research and evidence that these chemicals are harmful to both human health and the environment.

Recycling

The process where materials are processed and repurposed to make a new version of the same product. i.e. an aluminum can may be recycled to create a new aluminum can.

This is different to upcycling or downcycling, explained elsewhere in this glossary.

Renewable Energy

Energy that is generated from natural sources that can be replenished at a higher rate than they are consumed. Wind and sunshine are two examples of renewables. Renewable energy generates significantly less greenhouse gas emissions than fossil fuel energy.

Scope 1, 2, and 3 Emissions

The standard way of reporting and accounting for carbon emissions within businesses. Many organisations will develop net-zero targets for their Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. The concept can be a little complex, but can be briefly summarised as:

• Scope 1: Emissions generated directly from operations (i.e. burning of gas in vehicles) 
• Scope 2: Emissions generated from purchased electricity
• Scope 3: All other emissions sources

For more information on Scope 1, 2 and 3, Work For Climate has a great article which unpacks each Scope in further detail.

Upcycling

When material is processed and repurposed into a new product of greater value than the original.