The invention relates to a method for the analysis of refuse objects (2) containing polymers, in particular of carpets, in a recycling plant (1) and an automatic analytical device (7). In order to determine the polymer constituents of the refuse object (2), according to the invention, part of the refuse object (2) is vaporised and examined by a mass spectrometer (18). Using the method according to the invention and the automatic analytical device according to the invention, the refuse objects (2) can be classified for further processing (9, 10, 11) more accurately and more reliably during transport on a conveyor device (6).