Opacity is a foundational issue for processors of secondary material as they operate with limited material visibility, leading to hazard-related fires, downtime, and loss of downstream material provenance. True material visibility has remained an unsolved problem in the industry, given that the issue is predicated on an ever-evolving secondary material stream. Material composition can vary by time of day, season, municipality, city, and much more, and material depth (i.e. “burden depth”) makes it impossible to obtain accurate information on a facility’s material stream with conventional camera equipment.
