Sorting waste receptacle

A sorting waste receptacle, comprising:

• a hollow housing having a top wall, a bottom wall and at least one sidewall extending between the top wall and the bottom wall, the top wall having an opening formed therein for receiving a waste item, the housing having an upper interior portion and a lower interior portion, the lower interior portion being divided into a plurality of separate compartments;
• a frame mounted in the upper interior portion of the housing, the frame including:
• longitudinally opposed front and rear walls, the front and rear walls each having an upper end and a lower end;
• a pair of laterally opposed upper members extending between the upper ends of the front and rear walls, each of the upper members having a longitudinally extending slot defined therein;
• and
• a pair of laterally opposed lower members extending between the lower ends of the front and rear walls, each of the lower members having a longitudinally extending slot defined therein;
• a trolley slidably mounted in the frame, the trolley including:
• a pair of opposed upper members extending between the upper members of the frame, the upper members of the trolley slidably engaging the longitudinally extending slots defined in the upper members of the frame, the upper members of the trolley being selectively movable between the front and rear walls of the frame;
• and
• a pair of opposed lower members extending between the lower members of the frame, the lower members of the trolley slidably engaging the longitudinally extending slots defined in the lower members of the frame so that the lower members are selectively movable between the front and rear walls of the frame;
• a hollow chute mounted in the trolley, the chute having opposed upper and lower ends and being selectively laterally positionable in the trolley, the upper end being configured for receiving the waste item from the opening formed through the top wall of the housing, the lower end being configured for dispensing the waste item into a corresponding one of the compartments in the lower interior portion of the housing;
• at least one sensor mounted on the frame, the at least one sensor being configured for determining a recycling class of the waste item, the corresponding one of compartments being dedicated to collection of a particular class of recyclable waste items;
• at least one trolley actuator connected to the trolley for selectively moving the trolley forward and rearward between the front and rear walls of the frame;
• at least one chute actuator connected to the chute for selectively moving the chute laterally in the trolley;
• and
• a controller connected to said at least one sensor, to said at least one trolley actuator, and to said at least one chute actuator, the controller being configured to drive said at least one trolley actuator to move said trolley forward and rearward in said frame and to drive said at least one chute actuator to move said chute laterally above the corresponding one of the compartments in the lower interior portion of the housing in response to a signal from said at least one sensor corresponding to the recycling class of the waste item deposited in the receptacle in order to sort waste items by recycling class.