Municipal Solid Waste Sorting | AISORT
Application Overview — Municipal Solid Waste
MSW Sorting in Modern Recycling Facilities
Municipal solid waste (MSW) sorting extracts recyclables from mixed household waste — either from source-separated recycling (single-stream or dual-stream) or from mixed residual waste ('dirty MRF'). MSW sorting is technically the most challenging recycling application due to the extreme diversity of materials, high contamination levels, and the presence of hazardous items.
Material Characteristics and Sorting Challenges
MSW sorting challenges: wet organic waste contaminates dry recyclables (paper, cardboard) reducing their value; plastic bags and film wrap around sorting equipment causing jams; hazardous items (needles, batteries, gas canisters) pose safety risks to equipment and operators; the material composition changes daily and seasonally; and public confusion about what is recyclable leads to high contamination rates (15-30% in single-stream systems).
Recommended Sorting Technology Stack
Bag breaker → trommel screen (size fractionation) → ballistic separator (2D vs 3D: paper/film vs containers) → overband magnet (ferrous) → eddy current (aluminum) → NIR optical sorter (polymer separation of plastic containers: PET, HDPE, PP) → manual QC. For mixed residual waste: additional XRT for inert removal and organic separation via biodrying before sorting.
Performance Benchmarks
| Metric | Target |
|---|---|
| Recyclable Recovery | 85-95% of available |
| Purity per Fraction | >95% |
| Throughput | 15-50 t/h |
| Contamination Tolerance | Up to 30% |
These benchmarks represent achievable performance with modern sensor-based sorting equipment, assuming properly sized, well-maintained equipment operating on representative feedstock. Actual results depend on specific material composition, throughput, and operating conditions.