Breakdown of Ты должен сортировать каждую коробку, здесь всякий хлам.
здесь
here
ты
you (singular)
каждый
every
должен
must, have to
Questions & Answers about Ты должен сортировать каждую коробку, здесь всякий хлам.
Could I use всякую for the boxes and каждый for the junk?
No, that would change the meaning and sound unnatural here. Каждый means "each" or "every single one" and is used for individual items in a set (like boxes). Всякий means "all sorts of" or "all manner of" and is used here to describe the diverse, random nature of the хлам (junk).
Is хлам treated as a singular or plural noun?
Хлам (junk, trash, clutter) is an uncountable mass noun, much like "junk" in English. It only exists in the singular, which is why the singular masculine pronoun всякий is used to modify it.
Why is the verb сортировать in the imperfective aspect here?
The imperfective focuses on the tedious, ongoing process of going through the boxes. If the speaker wanted to emphasize the result of getting the job completely finished, they would use a perfective verb like рассортировать or отсортировать.
Why are the two halves of this sentence separated by just a comma instead of a word like "because"?
Russian frequently uses a comma to connect two related independent clauses where English would typically require a conjunction, a semicolon, or a period. This structure is perfectly standard and common in conversational Russian.