High yield refuse separation system

Means are provided for assisting separation of the lightweight material from the heavier weight material of refuse material in a system wherein the refuse material is delivered into the upper portion of a vertical separating chamber to drop down past a spreader and through a venturi throat between the spreader and the wall defining the chamber. The separation assisting means takes numerous forms, i.e., bypass passage means through the spreader member, a steadying device for the spreader member suspending rod, a bounce-deflection device below the chamber outlet and above a heavy material receiver, air streams from within a hollow rod passage through a declumper, flushing air streams from the upper conical deflecting surface of the spreader member, a deflector venturi ring device within the chamber below the spreader member, and supplementary high velocity flushing air streams directed through the descending material from the walls of the chamber below the spreader member.