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Comment by theobon | Hacker News Reader

I'd love to see this replace the current multi-bin setups I see most places. The ones where you spend so much time trying to figure out which is the right bin that inevitably some people just dump everything in the easiest location. It doesn't take many mistakes to ruin the efficacy.

An automatic sorter could solve that and training could be tailored to the location.

Starbucks seems like a good pilot location.

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This problem is solved with off site recycling. People get it wrong either through ignorance or laziness. Just dump it all in one bin and sort it at the facility. It's cheaper and more accurate. Add an arm to pick things off a conveyor belt, then you'd have something.

Yes, but ...

It provides some jobs, yes. But mostly low-wage.

Broken glass is a key issue. It's especially hard to separate from paper. I vaguely recall that silicon is also an issue for aluminum.

If your skills are limited binocular vision, object recognition, and an opposable thumb and n 2017, you're screwed. Hell, you've been screwed for 30 years. Everyone knows this.

Yes, and that's the problem. The US had welcomed them, because lots of dumb work needed doing. But now, not so much.

So how do societies deal with them? People with no prospects, especially young men, are dangerous.

Government make-work programs, but they're pretty much boondoggles by design, because you're intentionally not optimizing for cost-benefit? But rather maximizing headcount.

If I was in charge retrain people under 50 for something, with more education subsidies (including free post-secondary education) increasing as Age decreases (eg an18 year old goes to college, a 45 year old learns welding) but with the caveat that you have to move out of Methlandia. (Relocation package provided.)[0] People over 50 or those that don't take the offer get free carfentanil.

[0] https://newrepublic.com/article/131743/poor-get-trapped-depr...

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