With the already ubiquitous use of sophisticated automated systems in large-scale industrial waste processing plants where significant improvements continue to be made possible, manufacturers of special purpose equipment are turning to problem solving for smaller food waste, general waste recycling and materials recovery requirements that are found, for instance, in industrial kitchens, restaurant groups, food outlet chains, supermarkets and logistics companies. These application areas, just like their large scale counterparts, are characterised by the need to efficiently process waste material with minimal costs and maximum efficiency. Rather than transfer processing and materials recovery of bulk waste to outside contractors, where costs are potentially much higher, in-house ‘vertically integrated’ waste processing using specialised equipment now increasingly serves these industries. To maximise throughput and efficiency of processes as performed, for instance, in macerating machines that separate solid materials and liquids for later treatment and possible use in biomass (returning the investment), high torque servo actuators and sophisticated control systems come into play. Whilst for machines that compact bulk packaging waste such as cardboard can benefit from using competitively priced electric actuators driven by geared motors rather than hydraulic actuators – for more controllable and cleaner processing with the benefit of quiet operation.