> 4. Crushed and pounded with a rock by a 10 year old child, then burned in a rudimentary smelter to separate metals from plastics.
I'm certainly no mechanical engineering or robotics expert, but based on watching a bazillion episodes of "How It's Made", "Modern Marvels", and similar shows, I'm 99.9% sure a machine could be designed and built that can do this step cheaper and faster than a 10 year old child can.
The machine would have a higher up front cost than getting a kid from a poor country to do it so might not be economical if the amount of waste is below a certain amount but that's only a temporary situation.
I'm certainly no mechanical engineering or robotics expert, but based on watching a bazillion episodes of "How It's Made", "Modern Marvels", and similar shows, I'm 99.9% sure a machine could be designed and built that can do this step cheaper and faster than a 10 year old child can.
The machine would have a higher up front cost than getting a kid from a poor country to do it so might not be economical if the amount of waste is below a certain amount but that's only a temporary situation.