And plastic...
Plastic containers are sorted by their resin identification code (that number in a triangle on the bottom). Then they are baled and sent to a processing plant to be shredded into flakes and melted down into a pellets. The pellets are then sent to companies that use them to make new items. Recycled #1 plastics can be made into fleece or carpeting. Recycled #2 plastics are often made into artificial lumber for outdoor furniture or decking.
another cool aspect to these facilities is the way they ingeniously sort materials from each other. they use air gusts, lasers, mechanical means and even electron streams to separate stuff out. the electron streams for example are used to sort magnetic from non magnetic metal.