People still have a big hand in sorting the tons of trash that stream through Waste Management Inc.’s Irvine recycling plant each day. But lately they’re making room for a new helper — a mechanical sorter that uses light and bursts of air to shuttle valuable bits of trash to their proper places. 
The company showed off its new “sort line” to business and community leaders in a public demonstration Wednesday, although it’s been operating for a few months to give technicians a chance to get “the bugs out,” said Bill Bixler, district manager at the company’s Irvine Transfer and Processing Center.
“Now it’s fully up and running, and processing at a full rate,” he said.
Human sorters have been at work at the center for years, painstakingly separating bottles, cans, cardboard and other recyclables from the waste stream.
They managed about 8 tons of trash an hour, Bixler said.
With the new machine, he said, “we estimate we can do 15 tons an hour. We’re looking at about 30 tons a year, 120 tons per day.”
Two fully automated features allow the machine to rapidly pick apart trash.
