Spring is traditionally the time for a big clean, and that means questions about sorting waste. Maybe you wonder whether packaging from cleaning products can go in the PMD bag? The answer is simple: they are almost always allowed in the blue bag. Only packaging with a child-resistant press-and-twist cap or a hazard symbol is household hazardous waste (also called small hazardous waste or small chemical waste). So take those types of packaging to the recycling park.
Packaging from cleaning products goes in the PMD bag
Almost all packaging used for cleaning products is allowed in the blue bag: bottles of all-purpose cleaner, toilet cleaner or washing-up liquid, packs used for wipes or empty air fresheners. As for spray cans the general rule is also that they can go in with PMD, unless they contained lubricants, fuels, pesticides, varnishes or other household hazardous waste (HHW).
Please note that you should only put empty packaging in PMD. A broken bucket, for example, is not packaging but a use item, so it goes into residual waste.


Exception 1:
Packaging with a child-resistant press-and-twist cap is HHW
Bottles with a child-resistant press-and-twist cap, such as drain unblocker, white spirit or ammonia, are household hazardous waste (HHW). Residues from caustic substances can endanger employees at sorting centres if you put them in the blue PMD bag. Take containers with a press-and-twist cap to the recycling centre or keep them until a mobile recycling facility comes to your area.
Packaging with other types of child-resistant closures, such as bottles with squeeze-and-twist cap caps or plastic boxes of washing pods, are allowed in PMD. Read all about sorting packaging with child-resistant closures in this helpful blog.
Exception 2:
Packaging with a hazard symbol is HHW
Does the packaging used for a cleaning product have at least one hazard symbol for 'Health hazard (long-term)' or 'Toxic'? To put it even more simply: does the packaging display a lungs symbol or a skull and crossbones? If it does, it is household hazardous waste, even if the packaging does not have a childproof press-and-twist cap. So if in doubt, check the symbols and take packaging with a lungs or skull and crossbones symbol to a (mobile) recycling park.

Square orange corrosion logo? That's HHW
If you come across packaging with the old square orange corrosion logo during spring cleaning, that's household hazardous waste too, so the packaging is not allowed in the blue bag.

Useful to know:
The new white diamond-shaped corrosion logo appears on many cleaning products and it does not necessarily mean it is HHW. This is because the definition of the logo has been slightly changed, and that means many more products are now in the 'corrosive' category. A bottle of hand wash, for example. So a container with the white diamond-shaped corrosion logo is allowed to go in PMD unless it also has a press-and-twist cap or shows the lungs or skull and crossbones hazard symbol.
Conclusion: If in doubt, check whether the packaging has a press-and-twist cap or one of the hazard symbols mentioned above. For example, if a toilet descaler does not have a press-and-twist cap and has none of the symbols mentioned, you can put the packaging in the blue PMD bag.
Download this handy PMD sorting guide and put it up near your waste bins for extra-easy spring cleaning!