Separation system for recyclable material

A material separation system, comprising:

• a conveyor including a conveyor belt configured to move non-shredded Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) that initially has substantially no electrostatic charge up the conveyor, wherein the MSW comprises non-shredded plastic materials and non-plastic materials;
• a first electrostatic emitter positioned adjacent to the conveyor and configured to add an electrostatic charge to the MSW while the MSW is moving on the conveyor to cause at least some of the non-shredded plastic materials to electrostatically cling to the conveyor belt while being carried over an end of the conveyor so that the non-shredded plastic materials drop down close to the conveyor, wherein an amount of the electrostatic charge added by the first electrostatic emitter to the non-shredded plastic materials is greater than an amount of charge added to the non-plastic materials having a same polarity as the electrostatic charge;
• a second electrostatic emitter configured to add an opposite electrostatic charge to the conveyor belt, wherein the opposite electrostatic charge added by the second electrostatic emitter is opposite in polarity to the electrostatic charge added by the first electrostatic emitter, and wherein the opposite electrostatic charge causes the non-shredded plastic materials and the non-plastic materials to cling to the conveyor belt;
• and
• a control device configured to control a speed of the conveyor belt based, at least in part, on the amount of the electrostatic charge added by the first electrostatic transmitter, wherein at least some of the non-plastic materials in the MSW cling substantially less to the conveyor belt than the non-shredded plastic materials while being carried over the end of the conveyor so that the non-plastic materials launch out further from the end of the conveyor than the non-shredded plastic materials due to a combination of the speed of the conveyor belt and the amount of the electrostatic charge.

An apparatus, comprising:

• means for moving recyclable materials comprising plastic materials and non-plastic materials on a conveyor belt;
• means for emitting an electrostatic charge to the recyclable materials while the recyclable materials are moving on the conveyor belt, wherein an amount of the electrostatic charge emitted from the means for emitting an electrostatic charge and applied to the plastic materials is greater than an amount of charge applied to the non-plastic materials having a same polarity as the electrostatic charge;
• means for emitting an opposite electrostatic charge to the conveyor belt, wherein the opposite electrostatic charge emitted by the means for emitting an opposite electrostatic charge is opposite in polarity to the electrostatic charge emitted by the means for emitting an electrostatic charge, causing the recyclable materials to cling to the conveyor belt;
• and
• means for controlling a speed of the conveyor belt based, at least in part, on the amount of the electrostatic charge emitted from the means for emitting, wherein a combination of the speed of the conveyor and the amount of the electrostatic charge causes at least some of the plastic materials to cling to the conveyor belt while being carried over an end of the conveyor belt so that the plastic materials drop down relatively close to the conveyor belt in a first material stream, and wherein the non-plastic materials, having a smaller amount of the electrostatic charge than that of the plastic materials, cling less to the conveyor belt than the plastic materials and are launched substantially further out from the conveyor belt than the plastic materials, due to a combination of the speed of the conveyor belt and the smaller amount of the electrostatic charge, in a second material stream.