Already working in the most advanced recycling plants. Stadler's latest plant has zero people hand-sorting.[1]
Here's NYC's big plant in Brooklyn.[2] Sill some hand-sorting.
A robotic one from Japan.[3]
It may not be profitable, but it's quite possible to separate just about everything automatically now.
Awesome links, thanks for sharing! I won’t call the technical problem “solved”, but the larger issue is the politics that people think recyclables have suffient value to self-sustain recycling operations, and that isn’t the case. You’re going to have to pay for both your trash and recyclables to be disposed of, you’ll just pay less for the recyclables.