Improvements to waste separation

摘要

The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for separating material, in particular waste material. Such material is normally in a co-mingled state and can consist of newspapers, cardboard, plastic bottles, glass, organic waste and other such items. According to the present invention there is provided a waste separation system for separating domestic waste comprising: means for introducing co-mingled domestic waste held in discrete bags onto a loading waste conveyor; a bag splitter into which the waste bags are conveyed and which directs a stream of waste onto; a kinetic separator comprising a generally horizontally reciprocating table which separates waste on the basis of variations in travelling response to a snatch action imparted to the table by the reciprocation, the table being formed with sloping portions which direct waste on the one hand to one or both side regions of the table and on the other hand to a distal end region of the table, a secondary waste exit means at a distal end of the table providing an exit for waste which travels the length of the table; primary waste exit means at one or both side regions of the table for waste which is directed to a side region of the table by virtue of the reciprocating motion thereof; a primary waste conveying means for transporting waste from the primary exit means of the table; a screen separator into which is conveyed primary waste, which separator comprises one or more vibrating screens for removing relatively fine debris from the primary waste, and conveying the remaining waste; an air drum separator which receives the remaining waste, which air drum separator is adapted to entrain articles of paper or sheet plastics into an air stream and direct the entrained paper or plastics articles to an air separator for separating paper from plastics; a picking station along which is conveyed un-entrained waste from the air drum separator, which picking station permits removal of glass and textiles from the waste stream; a magnetic separator which removes magnetic metallic material from the waste stream by magnetic attraction; an eddy current separator for separating plastics articles, magnetic metallic articles and non-magnetic metallic articles one from another.