In a method for treating waste products and recycling products of solid organic or inorganic materials or composite materials or mixtures thereof, a breaking-up or separation of the components by means of an impulse is effected in the composite material or the mixture by a device which suddenly interrupts the flow of said composite material or mixture. Process air is fed in a counter-rotating, rising flow path into the spiral-like downward transport path generated in a rotor having a vertical axis and a shockwave is generated between the layers of the composite material against a deflector wall of the rotor. In addition, two radially spaced, coaxially arranged wall faces rotate relatively to one another about their axis and the composite materials or mixtures moved by centrifugal forces are moved and broken up between deflector faces projecting radially from the deflector walls.