dave-in-nj:
then shred everything else, you may be able to drop the waste past a slow fan. the light paper and plastic bags would move to one side and the heavy plastic from soda bottles would fall straight down.
IMHO it is also essential to separate the light plastics from the paper because they do just as much, maybe more, damage to the environment as the heavier plastics.
I understand the "mechanical" logic for shredding the stuff but I reckon that also adds to the problem because the smaller pieces of plastic are more likely to escape into the environment and into the food chain.
...R