Recovery of higher volume and higher quality recyclables from a mixed stream

An automated process for separating and recycling a broad mix of waste material including, but not limited to, paper and flexible plastics, the process comprising:

• collecting the broad mix of waste material at a materials recovery facility;
• presorting the broad mix of waste material and separating at the materials recovery facility the broad mix of waste material into individual commodities;
• separating at the materials recovery facility partially processed 2D blends from 3D containers while refraining from any quality control of the 2D blends;
• baling at the materials recovery facility the partially processed 2D blends to form bales of the partially processed 2D blends;
• receiving the bales from the materials recovery facility and aggregating at a fiber center the partially processed 2D blends;
• removing recyclable commodities, including flexible plastics, from the 2D blends at the fiber center;
• and
• aggregating each recyclable commodity that is removed from the 2D blends and forming separate commodity streams of clean paper and clean flexible plastics for sale by the fiber center,
• wherein separate streams of clean recycled paper having a purity of at least about 98% and clean recycled flexible plastics are created.