Automated process and method for material separation and recycling

A system for separating and recycling a broad mix of waste material including industrial and commercial streams, the system comprising:

• at least one of a container, a stationary compactor, and a self-contained compactor into which the broad mix of waste material is collected;
• a sorter for sorting the broad mix of waste material to remove contamination from the broad mix of waste material;
• a shredder for coarsely shredding the broad mix of waste material;
• and
• at least one optical sorter and an air separation device for
• separating plastic film, wherein the plastic film is less than 0.010 inches thick, from the broad mix to create a stream of cardboard and
• including the plastic film either in a stream of film-rich recycled plastic or in an independent third stream, wherein the stream of film-rich recycled plastic and the stream of cardboard each have a purity of at least about 95%.

One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodying software that is operable when executed to:

• collect a broad mix of waste material including industrial and commercial streams;
• sort the broad mix of waste material to remove contamination from the broad mix of waste material;
• shred the broad mix of waste material;
• remove plastic film, wherein the plastic film removed is less than 0.010 inches thick, from the broad mix of waste material with an optical sorter, creating a stream of plastic film and a separate stream of dirty cardboard;
• and
• separate residual plastic from the stream of dirty cardboard and include that residual plastic either in the plastic stream or in an independent third stream, wherein separate streams of a film-rich recycled plastic and a clean recycled cardboard each having a purity of at least about 95% are created.