A peek inside a Recycling Sorting Facility

This video offers a very quick look into all of the work that happens at a recycling sorting facility. That's right - when your city moves away from having you sort your recycling, somebody at a plant gets to do it for you.

The process is incredibly imprecise. At the beginning, the first thing that is done is plucking through the garbage and opening up plastic bags, etc.

Then a huge tumbler separates out "heavy" items (metals and other trash) from "light" items (paper and plastic). The paper and plastic get put on a line where a bunch of human beings have to weed through it and try to sort the right types of things.

The heavy items go through a conveyor where glass is pulled out by hand, metal is pulled out by a big magnet, and the rest goes into a waste area.

Though the citizens of Seattle recycle over 50% of their garbage, over half of that ends up going to the landfill anyway after sorting. I doubt that all of that is actual trash. Getting better at sorting our recycling is crucial to improving our recycling capabilities.

Beth at Fake Plastic Fish also has a number of great videos documenting her visit to Bay Area recycling facilities that are worth checking out.

Comments

[meg]

Hi,
I caught the name of your website on the radio today. i, too, am a world traveler trying to reform. When I arrive at my destination I always hike or take advantage of public transport. At home I rarely use my car choosing to walk or bike before bus.
Recycling. very frustrating. Fascinated and curious, I tried for 6 weeks to get a response from King Co Recycling plant when I wanted a tour. I am finally on their calendar, but if this is what it takes for a passionate person to even get a response, I hold little hope. It will be more than 90 days when I finally get to tour. A well-made video would have done just as well.
Loved your video clip tho!!! I finally got to see inside.
in general, thanks!