People over-emphasize the recycling aspect of "reduce, reuse, recycle"
I dont think there is a perfect solution, be it heavy machinery or human sorting at the waste depot, or human sorting at the home, but a KISS approach tends to help.<p>Barcode backgrounds. 
Red for waste
Green for recycle.<p>Different background patterns to represent the different elements of packaging which can be recycled.<p>Bottle with no outer wrapper.<p>Two elements, top half of barcode background represents bottle top. Bottom half represents the bottle.<p>----------------<p>|    RED       |<p>----------------<p>|    GREEN     |<p>----------------<p>Bottle with an outer wrapper.<p>--------------------<p>|    WRAPPER        |<p>|  -------------    |<p>|  | BOTTLE TOP |   |<p>|  --------------   |<p>|  | BOTTLE     |   |<p>|  --------------   |<p>|   WRAPPER         |<p>---------------------<p>Plastic trays<p>----------------------<p>|    WRAPPER         |<p>|    -------------   |<p>|    |           |   |<p>|    | TRAY      |   |<p>|    |           |   |<p>|    -------------   |<p>|                    |<p>----------------------<p>Tray with food sauces contain in plastic<p>----------------------<p>|    WRAPPER         |<p>|    -------------   |<p>|    |  TRAY     |   |<p>|    |  -------  |   |<p>|    |  |SAUCE|  |   |<p>|    |  -------  |   |<p>|    |  TRAY     |   |<p>|    -------------   |<p>|                    |<p>----------------------<p>Glossy Magazines<p>----------------------<p>|    COVER           |<p>|    -------------   |<p>|    |           |   |<p>|    | INNARDS   |   |<p>|    |           |   |<p>|    -------------   |<p>|                    |<p>----------------------<p>Bottle no plastic label plastic wrapped Multi packs<p>----------------------<p>|    WRAPPER         |<p>|    -------------   |<p>|    |  TOP      |   |<p>|    |  -------  |   |<p>|    |  BOTTLE   |   |<p>|    -------------   |<p>|                    |<p>----------------------<p>Bottle with plastic label plastic wrapped Multi packs<p>---------------------------<p>|    WRAPPER              |<p>|    -----------------    |<p>|    |  LABEL        |    |<p>|    |  ---------|   |    |<p>|    |  |  TOP   |   |    |<p>|    |  ----------   |    |<p>|    |  | BOTTLE |   |    |<p>|    |  ----------   |    |<p>|    |  LABEL        |    |<p>|    -----------------    |<p>|    WRAPPER              |<p>--------------------------<p>Basically the principle of working from the out in and where there are joins
like bottle tops they get split in half.<p>Dont know if the Red and Green would affect barcodes and colour blind people much though.<p>Or a phone app where every barcode scanned shows what can and cant be recycled
on the product, maybe organised through a trade body of sorts.<p>I think the barcode background is wasted though.<p>Edit. The ascii art hasnt come out well on here but hopefully the gist can be understood.