Don't landfills have machines that sort recyclables?

They only sort the pre-sorted garbage. Besides, how lazy can you be not to pre-sort your garbage?

depends on the landfill , machines have magnet to replace metals , some for plastic and some handle rubbish and seperate tree branches , some to crush concrete , you never know what is classified as rubbish .

It can sort some.  Magnets can pull out tin cans for the steel...but that requires power and landfills don't have that much power.  So they have people sort and separate the screw on metal lid from the plastic bottles and other mixes.  Also they sort the plastics into their groups. And paper from the plastics and cans and glass.

.Maybe you should be expected to bring your own container.It is done that way in other countries.  You have to supply the container as they deliver bulk product.  That would really cut down on the recyclables being thrown away all the time.

No, but people go there and pick whatever they feel is worth some money.

They only sort the pre-sorted garbage. Besides, how lazy can you be not to pre-sort your garbage?

Some do, most don't. They do exist, but are not common.

Sorting recyclables out of a consolidated waste stream (unsorted trash), is expensive and not very effective. Plus it's gross, because that waste includes rotten food and other junk. 

It's much more effective to have source-separated recyclables. Even then, the "machines" that can separate waste are limited. You can use a magnet to separate ferrous metals, and maybe there are some other mechanizations possible. But most MRFs (materials recovery facilities) do it largely by hand, with sorters and conveyors. It's not a nice job. 

No, landfills don't have such machinery.

Commercial recycling facilities that specialize in a particular category of materials do, but only for the material they specialize in.

Everything else is done by hand - either yours, or those of a waste management employee.

Negative. That machinery exists but it is rather expensive. In my area, some townships collect commingled recyclables and some require you to sort. THEORETICALLY, you could have mechanical sorting of most of the recyclables mixed with the rest of the refuse. You would never recover the cost of the machinery by selling the recyclables.

No they don't.

No. That’s all done by hand.