Legal+ Waste Management Terminology - Translation Q

Factual Questions
1

Oh thank God the SDMB is back! I was having serious withdrawal symptoms here… but at least I got some work done :slight_smile:
BUT: to finish it, I need your help.

I´m translating a text on waste management from German to English and though there is a surprising amount of specialized dictionaries, I´ve still got a few questions.

So, here we go:

legal:

  • when you cite a directive in a text, do you write Article 16 Section 2 (of Directive blah blah blah), or do you abbreviate them? Art. 16 Sec. 2? Upper or lower case?

  • what is the correct term for the rationale behind a decision - umm, how do I explain this… the reasons/considerations the legislative body (the European Commission in this case) gives when passing a new directive - you know, they usually explain why they do it and what purpose it serves. rationale? considerations? something completely different?

and then the waste management questions… any experts around? chemists? people working in pharmaceutical companies? we´re talking hazardous waste here, so you might know… anyone?

  • hazardous waste may not be disposed of just any old way, it has to be shipped to waste treatment plants and be accounted for. It can only be sent with an accompanying document - what is this document called? and is there a word for the obligation to do this - in German we have the nice adjective “begleitscheinpflichtig”, i.e. “obligatory to be shipped with an accompanying document” or whatever… any equivalent?

  • if you have the facilities to treat/incinerate the waste in the company, could you call it an “in-house (waste treatment) facility”?

  • sometimes certain types of waste that would be considered hazardous are proven to be non-hazardous, so you can dispose of them in another (cheaper) way. What would you call this process? The opposite of “classify/categorize as hazardous waste”.

  • do you say “contaminated” or “polluted” soil?

  • does the term “problem waste” exist? (not as bad as hazardous waste, but still problematic - can´t find that anywhere)

  • old cars - just old cars as a waste category?

  • what would you call a body that collects the data on hazardous waste (how much, where, normally based on those “accompanying documents”)

  • and then there´s a really tricky one - could you/ would you say “environmental medium”? uggh that sounds too ugly… wait, I´ll try to explain. They say “Umweltmedium” in German, meaning air, water, soil, and for some reason waste as well. medium as in Merriam Webster´s definition 2 a (2) : “a surrounding or enveloping substance”. element, if you like. “environmental element” sounds a bit metaphysical to me, though.
    I´ll give you a context: “separate plans that only focus on an isolated reduction of emissions into air, water or soil may simply shift the pollution from one <insert apropriate term here> to another instead of protecting the environment as a whole.”
    They also have an “integrative, comprehensive (though this should be substituted by a word that includes the above term, if possible) approach” in their environmental protection programmes. (The funny thing is that this document I´m translating refers to this as EU policy, but I can´t even find the German expression in my EU terminology or legislation sources.)
    So in case you don´t think this concept exists in English, what would you suggest? Any good ideas? does “environmental medium” sound completely ridiculous?
    I might come up with a few more questions later, but for now I´d be really really thankful if anyone has any good suggestions…

Pleeeease?

2

Oh wow, I actually found all of the weird waste words (and I agree it´s a boring topic), but I´m still at loss with the legal ones…

I´m sure there´s more lawyers around here than waste managers :slight_smile: - so come on:
Art. X Sec. Y; art. X sec. Y; article X, section Y?
I find all of these in different sources but can´t tell which is appropriate.
and I´ve more or less settled on the rationale, but if anyone feels like enlightening me on that, go ahead.

3

I work on writing Legislative Drafting software for the U.S. Senate, so I can tell you how things are (usually) cited HERE. YMMV.

If I wanted to make a cite to “Section 2 subsection a paragraph 1 subparagraph A”

It could be written as:

section 2(a)(1)(A)
or
2(a)(1)(A) - if you felt like being really terse.

I’ve never actually seen anybody write out the full “section 2 subsection a …”

In my case, all the “section/subsection” etc. names are all lower case. I’ve never seen the abbreviated “sec.” used in a citation.

However, there are different “styles” of doing this here, and I haven’t run into nearly all of them yet.

And this is just the style for referring to things in the same document… things get all kinds of funky if you start citing the Standing Rules of the Senate, U.S.C., treaties, etc. However, if you say:

section 2(a)(1)(A)

I would imagine that most lawyer-types 'round these parts would have a pretty good idea of what you were talking about… but IANAL :slight_smile: (but I’m surrounded by them all day)

4

Incidentally, for some “real world” examples of all kinds of citations, just look on thomas - http://thomas.loc.gov

If you pull up S1001 from the 106th congress, there are at least three different types of citations in it. You can probably find all kinds of crazy stuff if you can dig up a tax bill.

5
  • hazardous waste may not be disposed of just any old way, it has to be shipped to waste treatment plants and be accounted for. It can only be sent with an accompanying document - what is this document called?

A “chain of custody form” follows it. As the waste is recieved by a transporter, way-station, etc. any new person who takes possesion signs a chain of custody form. It may also have an invoice, which implies payment, shipping list, manifest, inventory, etc.

and is there a word for the obligation to do this - in German we have the nice adjective “begleitscheinpflichtig”, i.e. “obligatory to be shipped with an accompanying document” or whatever… any equivalent?

Not specifically.

  • if you have the facilities to treat/incinerate the waste in the company, could you call it an “in-house (waste treatment) facility”?

Yes, or more properly, “on-site” disposal, treatment, or facility)

  • sometimes certain types of waste that would be considered hazardous are proven to be non-hazardous, so you can dispose of them in another (cheaper) way. What would you call this process? The opposite of “classify/categorize as hazardous waste”.

declassify, deregulate, demote, reassign, reassess reevaluate…

  • do you say “contaminated” or “polluted” soil?

contaminated

  • does the term “problem waste” exist? (not as bad as hazardous waste, but still problematic - can´t find that anywhere)

Not in street-spoken English

  • old cars - just old cars as a waste category?

try “automobile” rather than car, or just use “scrap metal”, etc.

  • what would you call a body that collects the data on hazardous waste (how much, where, normally based on those “accompanying documents”)

There are many, usually referred to specifically, by abbreviation of the body:

EPA Environmental Protection Agency, FDA Food and Drug Administration

  • and then there´s a really tricky one - could you/ would you say “environmental medium”? uggh that sounds too ugly… wait, I´ll try to explain. They say “Umweltmedium” in German, meaning air, water, soil, and for some reason waste as well. medium as in Merriam Webster´s definition 2 a (2) : “a surrounding or enveloping substance”. element, if you like. “environmental element” sounds a bit metaphysical to me, though.
    I´ll give you a context: “separate plans that only focus on an isolated reduction of emissions into air, water or soil may simply shift the pollution from one <insert apropriate term here> to another instead of protecting the environment as a whole.”
    They also have an “integrative, comprehensive (though this should be substituted by a word that includes the above term, if possible) approach” in their environmental protection programmes. (The funny thing is that this document I´m translating refers to this as EU policy, but I can´t even find the German expression in my EU terminology or legislation sources.)
    So in case you don´t think this concept exists in English, what would you suggest? Any good ideas? does “environmental medium” sound completely ridiculous?

Absolutely ridiculous. Try Environ, environmental realm, or discharge point

As far as the next sentence goes, stick with “integrative approach” or “comprehensive approach” If you really think you must squeeze in another adjective, try “integrative, comprehensive, watershed-based approach”. But I am an aquatic scientist and am therefore biased!

Another combination, if awkward:
Ecoregional approach. Ecoregion is the next natural division, beyond the watershed unless a natural boundary exists, such as a mountain range or very large waterbody. “Biome”, the next level/category is inappropriate.

6

Thanks guys!
I used “waste manifest” in the end, Stan, because that´s what the parallel texts use for Austria. Looks like this term varies from country to country.
Oh, and that ridiculous “media”-thingie: I actually found some EU reference documents that speak of “cross-media assessment”, and environmental media, which sounds like a bad translation to me, but heck, if it´s Eurospeak already, I´ll use it… realm is nicer, though.
Thanks for the “declassify”, I´ve seen too many FBI films and wasn´t sure whether it was only used with “declassify classified documents” or the likes. :smiley:

So the next time I have to do a translation on aquatic science (or waste management… tends to be a bit boring:rolleyes:), I´ll ask you again, okay? :slight_smile:

7

I think rationale is good. Also “reasoning.”

As for abbreviations, Art. and art. are used. Sec. is also used, but if you’re citing a section, it’s typically abbreviated with the section symbol, §. (I hope you can see that.)

–Cliffy