Next, automated machinery such as disk screens and air classifiers separate the recyclates by weight, splitting lighter paper and plastic from heavier glass and metal. Cardboard is removed from the mixed paper and the most common types of plastic, PET (#1) and HDPE (#2), are collected. This separation is usually done by hand but has become automated in some sorting centers: a spectroscopic scanner is used to differentiate between different types of paper and plastic based on the absorbed wavelengths, and subsequently divert each material into the proper collection channel. Plastics tend to be incompatible with each other due to differences in chemical composition. The polymer molecules repel each other rather than mixing, similar to oil and water.