Version: 24.12

Glossary

Term	Definition	Source
Aggregate State/ State of Matter	State of matter (German: "Aggregatzustand") is one of the distinct forms in which matter can exist. Three states of matter are observable at ambient conditions and free of electrical charge: solid, liquid, gas	State of matter - Wikipedia
Base Quantity	The International System of Quantities defines seven base quantities. The set of base quantities is chosen by convention where no base quantity can be expressed in terms of the others, but where every quantity in the system can be expressed in terms of the base quantities.	International System of Quantities - Wikipedia
Bio-based Materials	Material of biological origin excluding material embedded in geological formations and/or fossilised	European Commission, Categorisation System for the Circular Economy, doi:10.2777/172132, P. 9
Biomass	Material of biological origin, excluding material embedded in geological formations or transformed material of biological origin, excluding material embedded in geological formations or transformed to fossilized material and excluding peat	DIN ISO 14021
By-Product	Substance or object, resulting from a production process, the primary aim of which is not the production of that item, and does not constitute waste (as defined in Directive 2008/98/E on waste)	European Commission, Categorisation System for the Circular Economy, doi:10.2777/172132, P. 9
CAS Number	a unique numerical identifier assigned by the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) to every chemical substance described in the open scientific literature. / Except for a small selection of most common substances released under CC-BY-NC license the CAS numbers are a proprietary identification scheme to be licensed from CAS (USA)	CAS Registry Number - Wikipedia
Chain-of-Custody approach	Mass balance is one of several well-known chain of custody approaches that can be used to track the flow of materials through the value chain. The total quantity of the content in question is tracked through the production system and the allocation of this content is made to the end products based on verifiable accounting. The goal of this method is to ensure proper accounting and to confirm a link between the incoming content (e.g., "sustainable," "recycled," or "organic" according to some definition) and the eventual outgoing product.	https://www.basf.com/global/documents/de/sustainability/we-source-responsibly/Mass-Balance-White-Paper-2020.pdf
Chemical Composition	Chemical composition refers to identity and number of the chemical elements that make up any particular chemical compound. In order to provide unambiguous information, "chemical element" and "chemical compound" must be defined as context.	Chemical composition - Wikipedia
Chemical Recycling	Chemical or feedstock recycling refers to the conversion of plastic polymers into their monomers or chemical building blocks or basic chemicals, i. e. depolymerisation by means of thermochemical or chemical processes, although there is currently no uniform, legally binding definition [13].	Background Paper on Chemical Recycling - German Environmental Agency, Dec 2020
Circular Economy	The circular economy is a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. In this way, the life cycle of products is extended.	European Parliament
Closed-Loop-Recycling	In a closed loop, the secondary material from one product system is either reused in the same product system or used in another product system without changing the inherent properties of the material.	PCF Rulebook
Component	Part or small assembly of parts used as part of a larger assembly	Article 2 Definitions 200053EG
Compostable	Characteristic of a product, packaging or associated component that allows it to biodegrade, generating a relatively homogeneous and stable humus-like substance.	DIN ISO 14021
Consumer	Any natural person who, in contracts covered by this Directive, is acting for purposes which are outside his trade, business, craft or profession	2011/83/EU on consumer rights
Co-Product	Any two or more products coming from the same unit process or product system.	PCF Rulebook, DIN EN ISO 14067, Feb. 2019, p.22
Degradable	A characteristic of a product or packaging that, with respect to specific conditions, allows it to break down to a specific extent within a given time.	DIN ISO 14021
Disposal	Disposal means any of the applicable operations provided for in Annex IIA to Directive 75/442/EEC, for instance deposit into or onto land, land treatment, deep injection, surface impoundment, release into water body, biological treatment, physico-chemical treatment.	Guideline 2000/53/EG
Dismantling ability	The ability of components to be removed from the vehicle.	ISO 22628:2002-02
Dismantling Information	All information necessary for the proper and environmentally sound treatment of an end-of-life vehicle. It is provided to authorized treatment facilities by vehicle manufacturers and suppliers in the form of manuals or electronic media (such as CD-ROMs, online services).	Guideline 2000/53/E
Downcycling	Downcycling, or cascading, is the recycling of waste where the recycled material is of lower quality and functionality than the original material.	Downcycling - Wikipedia
Ecological Assessment	Compilation and evaluation of the inputs, outputs, and potential environmental impacts of a product system throughout its life cycle	Article 2 Definitions 200053EG
Economic operators	Manufacturers, distributors, take-back points, motor vehicle insurance companies, dismantling facilities, shredder plant operators, recovery facilities, recycling facilities, as well as other facilities for the treatment of end-of-life vehicles, including their components and materials.	Guideline 2000/53/EG
End-of-Life	The point at which a product or component is taken out of use	Article 2 Definitions 200053EG
End-of-Life Vehicle	Vehicles that are considered waste under Article 1 letter a) of Directive 75/442/EC	Article 2 Definitions 200053EG
End-of-Waste	The end-of-waste state for waste in Europe reached when the material is no longer considered a waste under the national implementation of the Waste Framework Directive.	PCF Rulebook, EN 15804
Energy recovery	Energy recovery includes any process that refers to the use of waste as a raw material or the treatment of waste that cannot be recycled. The aim is to recover energy from materials and associated with this, to convert them into usable heat, electricity or fuel.	U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2016) Energy Recovery from Waste
Fossil Materials	Fossil raw materials are all raw materials derived from organic material. They include coal, crude oil and natural gas.	Federal Geothermal Office
Hazardous substances	Any substance that is classified as hazardous according to Directive 67/548/EEC.	Guideline 2000/53/EG
ILCD Format	International Life Cycle Data Format	PCF Rulebook
Input	Product, material or energy flow that enters a unit process.	Pathfinder / PCF Rulebook
Intermediate Product	Output from a unit process that is input to other unit processes that require further transformation within the system	Article 2 Definitions 200053EG
Life Cycle	Consecutive and interlinked stages related to a product, from raw material acquisition or generation from natural resources to end-of-life treatment.	DIN EN ISO 14067, PCF Rulebook
Mass	In physics, mass is not the same as weight. Mass is both a property of a physical body and a measure of its resistance to acceleration. For disambiguation see definition of "Weight" below	Wikipedia
Mass-Balancing	Considering the output, no physical or chemical difference exists between in-scope and out-of-scope. It involves balancing volume reconciliation to ensure the exact account of volumes of in- and out-of-scope source is maintained along the supply chain, provided that the volume or the ratio of sustainable material integrated is reflected in the product produced and sold to customers. This model requires that a reconciliation period is defined (e.g. a month, a year).	PCF Rulebook
Material	Physical good used as input for production processes of goods or services or physical good supplied to a customer as output	Pathfinder / PCF Rulebook
Material Declaration	Material declaration (MD) is the process mandated to meet the obligations placed on (automobile) manufacturers, and thus on their suppliers, by national and international standards, laws and regulations.	IMDS Information Pages - Home - IMDS Public Pages (mdsystem.com)
Material Details	Collection of material information defined by given context in an information model	Catena-X definition
Material Identifier	Material Identifier is a alphanumerical identifier that serves programmatic functions (e.g., as data ID) but also satisfies chemical regulation (see material declaration) under national and international law.	Catena-X definition
Material Name	Trivial name (often name of a chemical group) used to denote some material in everyday speech or jargon. Entirely dependent on specific context.	Catena-X definition
Material Recovery	Material recovery is recovery by processes in which virgin material of the same substance is replaced or the material remains available for further material use.	Packaging Act § 3 para. 19
Material Type	Groups of materials defined by convention (e.g., IMDS) or ISO Standard (e.g., ISO 62474) in order to simplify communication of relevance of material information (in search or filtering)	IEC 62474 – Material Declaration
Mechanical Recycling	End-of-life materials can be processed via collecting, sorting, shredding, melting and transforming it into secondary raw materials for a new application. This form of recycling involves processes in which e.g. the polymer structure is not significantly changed, and plastic is preserved as a material. Thus, in terms of its complexity, mechanical recycling takes place at a lower technical level than chemical recycling.	Mechanical recycling (basf.com)
Glossary and methods Open-loop recycling	In open-loop recycling, the material is reused in other product systems and is inherent properties are changed (e.g. recycled material may have a different chemical composition, a different chemical structure or a higher concentration of dissolved impurities compared to primary material)	PCF Rulebook
Output	Product, material or energy that leaves a unit process.	Pathfinder / PCF Rulebook
Post-consumer material	Material generated by households or by commercial, industrial and institutional facilities in their role as end-users of the product which can no longer be used for its intended purpose. This includes returns of material from the distribution chain. Post-consumer material can be used in the form of recovered or recycled material as a substitute for primary material.	DIN ISO 14021
Pre-consumer Material	Material diverted from the waste stream during a manufacturing process. Excluded is reutilization of materials such as rework, regrind or scrap generated in a process and capable of being reclaimed within the same process that generated it. Pre-consumer material can be used in the form of recovered or recycled material as a substitute for primary material.	DIN ISO 14021
Primary Material	Raw material coming from the environment, as well as materials of differing stages of processing (Raw materials, semi- and finished goods), which are used in the production process for the first time.
Prevention	Measures to reduce the quantity and environmental harm of end-of-life vehicles, their materials, and substances	Guideline 2000/53/EG
Process	Set of interrelated or interacting activities that transform inputs into outputs.	DIN EN ISO 14067, PCF Rulebook
Producer	The vehicle manufacturer or the commercial importer of a vehicle into an EU Member State	Article 2 Definitions 200053EG
Product	Any good (tangible product) or service (intangible product)	PCF Rulebook
Production	Process of combining various inputs, both material (such as metal, wood, glass, or plastics) and immaterial (such as plans, or knowledge) in order to create output.	Production (economics) - Wikipedia
Production Waste	Waste generated in different industries in connection with production and the opposite to consumption waste, which primarily comprise municipal waste and waste comparable to it.	Production waste Concepts Statistics Finland
Raw Material	Primary or secondary material, that is used for production of a product.	Pathfinder / PCF Rulebook
Recoverability	The ability of components and/or materials to be directed to a recovery process from the waste stream.	ISO 22628:2002-02
Recoverability quote	The percentage of the mass of the new vehicle that can potentially be recovered and/or reused.	ISO 22628:2002-02
Recovered Material	Material that would have otherwise been disposed of as waste or used for energy recovery, but has instead been collected and recovered [reclaimed] as a material input, in lieu of new primary material, for a recycling or a manufacturing process.	DIN ISO 14021
Recyclate	Secondary raw materials that have been generated by means of the recovery of waste or are generated in the disposal of waste and are suitable for the production of products.	KrWG, Framework Waste Directive
Recyclability quote	The percentage of the mass of the new vehicle that can potentially be recycled and/or reused.	ISO 22628:2002-02
Recycled Content	Proportion, by mass, of recycled material in a product or packaging. The recycled content is the sum of pre-consumer material and post-consumer material.	DIN ISO 14021
Recycled Material	Material, that has been reprocessed from (reclaimed) material by means of a manufacturing process and made into a final product or into a component for incorporation into a product.	DIN ISO 14021
Recycling	Recycling is the process of collecting, sorting, and processing waste to release materials that can be reused for their original purpose or other purposes, except for the energy recovery. Energy recovery is the use of combustible waste for energy production by direct combustion with or without other types of waste, but with the recovery of heat.	DIRECTIVE 2002/96/EC
Reduce	Increase efficiency in product manufacture or use by consuming fewer natural resources and materials	European Commission, Categorization System for the Circular Economy, doi:10.2777/172131, p. 7
Refurbish	Restore an old product and bring it up to date (to specified quality level)	European Commission, Categorization System for the Circular Economy, doi:10.2777/172131, p. 7
Refurbishment	Includes the same process steps as remanufacturing, that is repairing, restoring, rebuilding and/or replacing. A refurbished product is not comparable to a new one but has been updated to a specific quality level and should be fully functional.	Refurbishing – Wikipedia
Refuse	Make product redundant by abandoning its function or by offering the same function by a radically different (e.g. digital) product or service	European Commission, Categorization System for the Circular Economy, doi:10.2777/172131, p. 7
Remanufacture	Use parts of a discarded product in a new product with the same function (and as-new-condition)	European Commission, Categorization System for the Circular Economy, doi:10.2777/172131, p. 7
Remanufacturing	Remanufacturing is a standardized industrial process that restores used products to their original performance level or better, with a warranty equivalent to or surpassing that of newly manufactured products. The remanufacturing effort includes dismantling the product, restoring and replacing components, and testing individual parts and the whole product to ensure it meets its original design and performance specifications, as seen from the customer’s perspective.	BS 8887-2:2009
Repair	Repair is the process of returning a faulty or broken product or component to a usable state. The effort put into the repair is minimal and only addresses the specified fault to ensure the useability of the product; however, the performance of the repaired part may not be guaranteed. The warranty for a repaired product is generally less than that of a new or remanufactured product and may only apply to the replaced or repaired component	BS 8887-2:2009
Repurpose	Use a redundant product or its parts in a new product with different function	European Commission, Categorization System for the Circular Economy, doi:10.2777/172131, p. 7
Resource (Rohstoff)	Resource that is used or can be used in a process. A resource can be of a material or immaterial nature. When the term "resource" is used in the context of environmental science, it refers to a "natural resource". Unlike here, the term resource is often used very narrowly in the sense of raw materials.
Resource Protection	Economical use of natural resources with the aim of preserving their quantity and function.
Rethink	Make product use more intensive (e.g. through product-as-a service, reuse and sharing models or by putting multi-functional products on the market)	European Commission, Categorization System for the Circular Economy, doi:10.2777/172131, p. 7
R-Strategies	R-Strategies, as part of circular economy, encompass a range of sustainable resource management approaches that prioritize actions such as reuse, remanufacturing, recycling, and recovery. These strategies aim to extend the life of products and materials, reduce waste generation, and minimize environmental impacts by promoting the efficient and responsible use of resources throughout their life cycle, thus contributing to the implementation of the circular economy model.	Inspired by Potting et al.: Potting, J.; Hekkert, M.P.; Worrell, E.; Hanemaaijer, A. Circular Economy: Measuring Innovation in the Product Chain; Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving: Hague, The Netherlands, 2017.
Re-use	Re-use of a product which is still in good condition and fulfils its original function (and is not waste) for the same purpose for which it was conceived	European Commission, Categorization System for the Circular Economy, doi:10.2777/172131, p. 7
Reusability	The ability of components to be diverted from the waste stream and reused.	ISO 22628:2002-02
Reutilization	Reutilization of materials such as rework, regrind, or scrap materials generated within the process and capable of being reused within the same process that generated it.	Adapted from ISO 14021
Scrap	Iron and steel material in metallic form that is recovered in multiple life cycle stages, including steel production processes, the manufacturing processes of final products and the end of life of final products	Adapted from ISO 20915:2018
Secondary Raw Material	Secondary materials are any materials that are not the primary products from manufacturing and other industrial sectors. These materials can include scrap and residuals from production processes and products that have been recovered at the end of their useful life.	US EPA, 17.08.2023
Shredder	Any facility that is used to crush or shred end-of-life vehicles, including for the purpose of recovering directly reusable metal scrap.	Guideline 2000/53/EG
Treatment	Activities carried out after the end-of-life vehicle is handed over to a facility for the elimination of pollutants, dismantling, coarse crushing, shredding, recycling or preparation for disposal of shredder waste, as well as other activities related to the recycling and/or disposal of end-of-life vehicles and end-of-life vehicle components.	Guideline 2000/53/EG
Vehicle	Vehicles of classes M1 or N1 according to Annex II Section A of Directive 70/156/EC and three-wheeled vehicles according to Directive 92/61/EC, however excluding three-wheeled motorcycles.	Article 2 Definitions 200053EG
Vehicle mass	Unladen mass of the operational vehicle (code: ISO-M06), according to DIN ISO 1176, term 4.6: unladen mass of the dry vehicle (term 4.5) plus the mass of lubricants, coolant (if required), washing fluids, fuel (tank filled to at least 90% of the manufacturer's specified capacity), spare wheel(s), fire extinguisher, standard spare parts, wheel chocks, standard tool ship.	ISO 22628:2002-02
Waste	Materials, co-products, products, or emissions without economic value that the holder intends or is required to dispose of.	DIN EN ISO 14067, PCF Rulebook, Pathfinder
Waste Prevention	Waste prevention is any measure taken to ensure that a substance, material or article does not become a waste. It is used to reduce the amount of waste, the harmful effects of the waste on people and the environment, or the content of harmful substances in materials and articles.	Closed Substance Cycle Waste Management Act
Weight	In science and engineering, the weight of an object is the force acting on the object due to gravity. For disambiguation see definition of "Mass" above	Mass - Wikipedia

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