Each day, the 11-acre Sims Municipal Recycling in Sunset Park processes about 450 tons of recycled materials through an amazing automated process involving air jets and conveyor belts.
A conveyor belt is keeping material flying past at speeds that require both concentration and rapid eye movement if you wanted to track a single item. Above the constant roar of all the heavy equipment, it's just possible to make out the brief hissing of jets of high-pressure air. Those jets are produced where the conveyor belt ends, and most of the material plunges onto a second belt below. Each hiss, however, causes a carefully chosen item to leap off the end of the belt and soar into a different collection area, where yet another conveyor belt takes it on its way.
Check out the video's accompanying article for more on the process.
via Ars Technica
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