I used to work for the Birmingham City Council refuse plant in the 60s 70s and I left in the early 80s.....everything then was done manually eg. sorting the rags bottles and bones out on 2 conveyor belts, the tin cans was sucked out of the rubbish by a huge magnet, the tin cans were then baled and crushed into blocks, cardboard was baled too along with the old rags and carpets, this was all sold, washing machines fridges was dismantled for scrap, the rest was burnt, the ashes were taken to a landfill tip, the powers that be at the time thought they knew better and decided on cut backs I believe 10-15% of the workforce left with a VR payment I was one of them, In my mind until this happened they had the most perfect system in operation........little did they know it was just the start of all the troubles that have happened ever since.........it came also under the name of the latest technology!
