What's going on inside a recycling center

Brut America

What happens to our yogurt tub once we've thrown it away? In France, new technology makes it easier for citizens to recycle.  Brut Nature followed our waste inside a recycling center. ️

Transcript

00:00Hello, welcome to the Sigtum sorting center in Sevran.

00:03I'm going to show you what your packages and papers become

00:05once you've put them in your sorting bin.

00:18So, last March you had a bin that collected on the commune

00:21and which enters the sorting center where it will empty its contents.

00:31The sorting is important because it not only saves energy,

00:34it also saves resources.

00:36The sorted packages are recycled,

00:39so they allow us to produce new packages or new items.

00:51So, here we are in the pre-sorting cabin

00:53where the packaging is prepared before sorting.

00:56This is where everything big and undesirable is removed.

00:59Big and undesirable items can be items that are not packaging

01:03and have nothing to do with packaging,

01:05such as pans, pans,

01:07everything that is metallic but is not packaging.

01:16After the pre-sorting cabin phase,

01:18the first step of mechanical sorting is done in the ballistic crib,

01:21which separates the packaging from the packaging.

01:24The ballistic crib separates two types of material,

01:27the flat bodies, paper, cardboard, cardboard,

01:30the hollow bodies, bottles, cans, cans.

01:33Then the steel and aluminum packaging are separated.

01:39Now, in some communes,

01:41we take into account the pots, baskets and plastic films

01:43in order to first simplify the sorting gesture of the user

01:47and secondly to increase the amount of recyclable and recycled packaging.

01:52The extension of sorting cabinets requires a modernization of the site.

01:56This modernization is mainly a mechanization

01:58and in particular the installation of optical triggers.

02:02So, this is the optical trigger.

02:04In this case, it will separate the papers

02:06that will end up in the sorting cabin

02:09where they will be controlled by the agents.

02:13Optical triggers are machines that,

02:15by emitting light on the packaging,

02:17the scans recognize the type of material.

02:21This is how we separate the different types of plastic

02:24for the hollow bodies

02:25or the different types of paper and cardboard

02:27for the flat bodies.

02:30Hello.

02:31Hello.

02:32At the very beginning, we saw the mixed packaging

02:34arriving in bins.

02:35And here, in fact, in the cabin,

02:36we see the packages separated from each other

02:38and we see the different types of materials,

02:40the papers, the cardboard,

02:42up to the food bricks, in this case, on this carpet.

02:47So, at the end, the sorted papers on the chain

02:49fall into this bin.

02:52And once there is enough quantity,

02:54they will be conditioned into balls

02:55and therefore go into the press

02:57which is located behind me.

03:00Behind me, you have the cardboard balls.

03:04On my left, you have paper balls, in white,

03:07paper that can give back newspaper once recycled.

03:11And in front of me,

03:12we go to the area

03:13where the different types of plastic

03:15are stored.

03:16And in particular, on these first two,

03:18PET and PEHD,

03:20in which there are pots and trays

03:23which are part of the extension of sorting instructions,

03:25so the new instructions for the inhabitants.

03:28And in front of me,

03:29there is also another flow

03:30that was not sorted at all before,

03:31which are the plastic films

03:33and which are now extracted.

03:34Plastic films, in general,

03:35become plastic films or garbage bags.

03:39For PET, it can become bottles

03:42or trays.

03:43The dark PET can give synthetic fibers, clothes.

03:47And if I turn around,

03:48with this one,

03:49which is another type of plastic,

03:51PEHD or PP,

03:54we can make pipes,

03:56water tanks,

03:58garbage bins, etc.

04:10This recycling can be even better,

04:12even optimized,

04:13insofar as it still remains

04:15in the garbage bins of users,

04:1730 to 40% of packaging or paper waste

04:20that does not end up in the sorting bin

04:22and therefore are not recycled afterwards.

04:24From the moment your municipality

04:25enters the sorting instructions extension,

04:28you can put all the papers,

04:29but also all the packaging,

04:31whatever the type of material.

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