Abstract: This invention relates to an improved method and apparatus to effect the separation of component fractions from paper-containing and plastic-containing waste materials. This method and apparatus accepts materials of widely varying characteristics such as paper, plastics, glass, metal, food wastes and other materials to be inserted en masse into a rotating vessel equipped with lifting paddles and directional flighting. In this way the intimate contact of materials with moisture and heat is accomplished, thus effecting the repulping of paper materials. The repulped materials, as a result of directional tumbling, are dispersed throughout the vessel. Because of the repulping of the pulpable materials, size reduction of the randomly large and odd-shaped pulpable material is accomplished. By virtue of the size reduction of the large and odd-shaped pulpable materials, the non-pulpable components are freed of the particle shapes and surfaces that affect separation.