Distinction is made between disposal, incineration, recycling and energy recovery.

• Disposal: any operation which is not recovery even where the operation has as a secondary consequence the reclamation of substances or energy. .
• Incineration: Disposal consisting of incineration on land.
• Recovery or Recycling:
• "Recovery": any operation the principal result of which is waste serving a useful purpose by replacing other materials which would otherwise have been used to fulfil a particular function, or waste being prepared to fulfil that function, in the plant or in the wider economy.
• “Recycling”: any recovery operation by which waste materials are reprocessed into products, materials or substances, whether for the original or other purposes. It includes the reprocessing of organic material but does not include energy recovery and the reprocessing into materials that are to be used as fuels or for backfilling operations.

• Energy recovery: recovery in which the main use is as a fuel or other means of producing energy.