[cmarschner]

That‘s pretty much what is done in countries with a recycling industry. It might be a bit more manual (you might have containers on the street for glass for example) but an entire industry is supposed to make it happen and burn the rest and turn it into electricity on the way. You can read up on their proceedings, e.g. at https://www.recycling-magazine.com/

The thing is: even after 40 years they‘re still not very good at it. Even the top countries just make the 50% mark. And that is done via a set of different political measures and education of the public https://www.nspackaging.com/analysis/best-recycling-countrie... .