Abstract: Solid Municipal Waste is loaded, or loaded and compacted, into a pressure vessel which has means for very fast opening for discharging the contents. The pressure vessel is pressurized, with steam, or a compressed gas such as compressed air. The pressure vessel can be fitted with a breech and a quick release muzzle cover and at the discharge end (muzzle) thereof is fitted with an orifice whose purpose is to promote a powerful turbulence and shock wave, through which the exiting solid material must pass to maintain pressure within the vessel during discharge, and to control the rate of discharge. The disruptive forces produced at the orifice, which can be either a sub-sonic, sonic, or supersonic flow orifice, are a function of the strength of the shock wave or the turbulence. The discharged material is then gravity separated in the wet or dry conditions and the separated materials are then employed in additional processes, or employed as landfill depending on its chemical and physical properties.