Aluminum and steel are easy to extract from the waste stream, run the waste stream past a magnet to separate the ferrous metals, then run the waste stream past an eddy current separator to separate out the aluminum/copper/zinc.

Recycling household waste is dumb and a massive waste of resources. Burning the trash after extracting the metal would be optimal.

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asdff 2 days ago | parent [-]

Isn't burying in a landfill better than burning considering the carbon sequestration considerations of burning what will likely be plastic products? At least with burying we are a little bit closer to putting the oil energy back under the surface of the earth vs having it around in the atmosphere.

	▲	mkbosmans 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		If you capture the heat from the burning, e.g. to generate electricity, then that can save burning oil/gas/coal instead. Furthermore, the landfill will usually also generate gasses like methane, which need to be burned off too.