I LEARNED THE TRUTH ABOUT RECYCLING

Summary by Krater

A tour of a Waste Management recycling facility in Salt Lake City, Utah, reveals how mixed curbside recycling is sorted using manual labor, optical sorting, magnets, and eddy currents, and explains why items like lithium batteries and plastic bags cause dangerous issues.

From the video

Answers: What happens to your curbside recycling after it is picked up?

• curbside recycling sorting process
• material recovery facility operations
• optical sorting technology
• eddy current metal separation
• lithium battery fire hazards in recycling
• plastic bag contamination in recycling facilities

What it concludes

• Lithium-ion batteries thrown in curbside bins cause dangerous fires that can bring down recycling facilities.
• Plastic bags and film contaminate recycling streams and get caught in facility rollers, causing operational hazards.
• Aluminum and steel cans are efficiently separated from other materials using magnets and eddy currents.
• Cardboard boxes in the United States are made with about 50 percent recycled content, while Europe achieves about 85 percent.