Sorting
PMD

The biggest mistakes people make with the blue bag

 

Although we have been used to sorting waste for many years in Belgium, there still seem to be many misunderstandings around the PMD bag. We regularly find things in them that absolutely do not belong there – and that is a shame, because PMD bags containing the wrong things hinder the recycling process. Here are some of the biggest mistakes people make!

1. Large plastic objects (such as plastic sleeves or buckets)
 

The P in PMD stands for plastic packaging, and that is an important detail. It is only packaging material made of plastic that goes in the blue bag – things like bottles, jars, films or bags. Large items such as plastic covers, boxes or toys are not packaging so they do not belong there.

plastic zeil, zwembad, tube, emmer en andere grote plastic voorwerpen horen niet bij PMD

2. Paper and cardboard


Paper and cardboard are perfectly recyclable, but only if you put them in the right bin. Yes, them. There are separate (free!) collections for paper and cardboard. If you do put them in with the PMD, you will disrupt the sorting process. Also, the paper and cardboard will not get recycled.

papier en karton zijn recycleerbaar maar enkel als je ze correct aanbiedt

3. Shoes and clothing


Textiles like shoes and garments definitely do not go in the PMD bag. You can still give these a new lease of life if you put them in the special textile containers that are made available by many municipalities. That way you can help with reuse and avoid waste.

textiel hoort niet bij PMD

4. Plastic toys and electrical goods


Although they are made of plastic, objects like plastic toys, kitchen utensils, power strips, remote controls, etc. are not packaging. If you do put electronic items in the blue bag, you can even create dangerous situations. That is because there is a chance that they could be damaged during the sorting process and cause an explosion. This is dangerous for employees. So they don’t go in the PMD bag. Take them to your recycling centre or give them to someone else if they are still usable. 

plastic speelgoed en elektro horen NIET bij PMD
Goed sorteren - belangrijk voor iedereen

PMD: what can go in?

Only Plastic packaging, Metal packaging and Drinks cartons can be efficiently processed and recycled at PMD sorting facilities. If you put other things in the bag, you increase the risk of a whole bag being rejected – and that harms the environment as well as increasing the cost of disposal.

You can hand in a range of materials free of charge, such as batteries (Bebat collection points), electrical goods (Recupel collection points), paper/cardboard (door-to-door collections), glass (via bottle banks or door-to-door collections) and textiles (textile containers). If you put these materials in the blue bag, not only will you increase the chances of the PMD in that blue bag being rejected, but it will mean that perfectly recyclable materials like paper, cardboard and textiles are lost for recycling or reuse. 

Are you still not sure? Download the sorting guides for PMD, paper/cardboard and glass or search for things you are not sure about at the top of this page. Let’s recycle it right... it’s better for the planet!