ABSTRACT
Manual source separation prior to collection is commonly an important step in the design of a solid waste management system. Examples of such activities are the separating of recyclable from nonrecyclable materials, combustible from noncombustible materials, and hazardous from nonhazardous materials. Manual source separation prior to collection is commonly an important step in the design of a solid waste management system. Several types of shredders that have been used for processing solid wastes are flailmills, hammermills, grinders, shears, and wet pulpers. Flailmills are able to process large quantities of refuse with low energy requirements. Items that are difficult to shred pass through the flailmill with little size reduction. The factors that affect the energy consumption of a shredder are the type of feed material to be shredded, the moisture content, the desired particle size of the product, the design of the shredder, and the state-of-repair of the machine.
