Sorting and recycling your waste

Garden waste

While the 2% of incorrectly sorted waste in paper and cardboard may seem small, it nevertheless represents almost 1,000 tonnes of incorrectly sorted waste per year.

What?

What waste should be sorted in this category?

Waste authorized in the “Paper-cardboard waste” catefory:

Envelopes, even with windows
Pure paper / cardboard
White paper / cardboard
Colored paper / cardboard
Paper / cardboard with printed writing
Letter paper
Printer / photocopy paper

Cardboard boxes (washing powder boxes, cereal boxes, …)
Medication leaflets
Cardboard tubes or cores (accepted if "Cardboard" only)
Metal-free cardboard folders / binders
Cardboard wrapping paper
Newspapers
Magazines

Leaflets
Advertising
Brochures
Books
Archives
Files
Paper bags
Cardboard packaging
Office paper

Waste refused in the “Paper and cardboard waste” category:

Tetrapaks

Boxes used to hold eggs, fish, etc.

Burnt paper

Wallpaper

Silicone paper

Dirty, soiled or greasy paper / cardboard

Laminated paper / cardboard

Baking paper

Cellophane paper

Carbon paper

Wax paper

Heat-resistant or thermal paper

Metallized / aluminium paper

Paper / bags with aluminium layer

Bread bags

Cardboard tubes or cores (refused in the "paper and cardboard mix”)

Telephone directories

Wrapping paper with plastic

Plasticised paper / cardboard

Tracing paper

Cardboard with an inner plastic layer

Adhesive masking tape / sticky tape

Folders / binders made of plastic or including metal

Takeaway cardboard coffee cups;

Honeycomb paper

Paper towels

Paper tablecloths, tissues and napkins

Diapers / Nappies

Paper polluted by: oil, paint, paraffin or other chemicals

Hazardous waste

Medical waste

Food waste / food

Radioactive or explosive materials

Any erotic content on paper or DVD

Hard plastics

Plastic films, bags and sacks

Textiles, clothing

Toilet paper

Photos

Where?

Where should you put your waste?

You can dispose of your paper and cardboard waste :

In the yellow bag

In the yellow container - (apartment buildings)
Paper and cardboard items must be placed loose in the container.

At one of our Recypark - See rates, rules and practical information on the Recypark page.

To transport your professional waste to the Recypark, your company must be registered with Bruxelles Environnement as a waste transporter.

How?

How should you present your waste?

A few rules to be observed for paper and cardboard waste:

Paper and cardboard waste must be clean, dry, free of residues and plastic film.
When collecting paper and cardboard in bags, it is forbidden to use bags other than the yellow bag provided for this purpose.
Paper and cardboard waste may also be presented for collection in cardboard boxes. Paper and cardboard waste must not escape from the crate used.
Cardboard/newspapers that don't fit in the yellow bag can be folded and securely tied. In this case, it's best to use cotton, hemp, jute or sisal rope. Do not use plastic materials for tying.
Wherever possible, remove any glue, tape or adhesive from boxes before presenting them for collection.
For the safety of your collection crews, as well as for more efficient processing on your rounds, make sure that your bales of compacted cardboard and cardboard boxes are easy to handle and transport, i.e. of a reasonable size and weight. Prefer two medium-sized bales to one too large or too heavy.
Bag / Bale / Box of maximum fifteen kilograms (15 kg).
For container collection, paper and cardboard waste must be deposited in bulk in the container.
To be accepted for collection, containers must be easily maneuverable by our teams. It's important to take into account the weight of the container and where you place it. For example, a container that is too heavy, or placed on cobblestones or gravel, or requiring a curb cut, may make collection impossible. So keep these details in mind when preparing your containers for collection.

We also encourage you to download our sorting memo and to fix where it can easily be seen (fridge door ...)..

Sorting memo

In 2009, the PMD collected still contained 60% of poorly sorted waste. Today, this figure has been reduced to 27% thanks to our mutual commitment to better sorting. In 2021, the blue bag became the New Blue Bag. From now on, almost all plastic packaging can be placed in the blue bag.

What?

What waste should be sorted in this category?

Plastics packaging (P)

Bottles and flasks: lemonade, water, milk, juice, bath / laundry / dishwashing products, etc.
Trays and dishes: clean or dirty, but emptied of contents
Jars, tubes and cups: yogurt/flower pots, coffee cups, toothpaste tubes, etc.
Films, bags and pouches: beverage packaging, potato chip packets, aluminum bags, industrial films of up to 1 m², packaging of less than eight liters (8 L), etc.
Beverage capsules: coffee capsules, etc.)

Metal packaging (M)

Cans
Tin cans,
Aerosols (for food products, cosmetics, etc.)
Beverage capsules (coffee, etc.)
Metal lids, caps and closures (for jars, bottles, etc.)
Metal cans

Metal drums
Aluminum dishes
Aluminum ramekins
Aluminum trays
Air fresheners
Etc.

Drink cartons (D)

Any laminated brick-type packaging containing liquid products:

Fruit juice
Soup
Milk
Cream
Etc.

Waste refused in the “PMC waste” fraction:

Hard plastics ;
Syringes, intravenous bags (baxters) and other healthcare waste ;
Packaging with a capacity greater than eight liters (8 L) (cans,...) ;
Large industrial films, pallet covers/films and bags greater than 1m² ;
Strapping (industrial quantity) ;
Items not considered packaging or too large: plastic buckets, garden hoses, rubber boots, windbreakers, plastic crates, power strips, coffee machines, plastic overshoes, plastic/nitrile gloves, ... ;
Frigolite / expanded polystyrene - with small white EPS balls ;
Gas cylinders (butane, propane, helium, nitrous oxide,...) ;
Batteries (lithium,... ) and batteries ;
Electrical and electronic appliances ;
Packaging with child-resistant caps ;
Packaging of pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, rat poison, anti-foam ;
Packaging of combustive agents, fuel, motor oil and lubricants ;
Packaging of glues, paints, lacquers and varnishes, silicone tubes ;
Clothing / textiles ;
Packaging composed of a mixture of materials that cannot be separated (layer of plastic film with layer of aluminum film, kraft packaging with waterproof plastic,... ;
Packaging with at least one of the hazard pictograms (acute toxicity, danger to health, infectious risks, corrosive products, etc.) listed below:

Pictogramme déchet chimique attention dangereux pour la santé — Hazardous to health - long term

Where?

Where should you put your waste?

You can dispose of your PMD packaging:

In the blue bag

In the blue container (apartment buildings)
PMD must be placed loose in the container.

At one of our Recypark - See rates, rules and practical information on the Recypark page of our website.

To transport your professional waste to the Recypark, your company must be registered with Bruxelles Environnement as a waste transporter.

How?

How should you present your waste?

Some rules for PMD packaging:

PMC packaging must be well emptied, drained or scraped of its contents.
For the collection of PMD packaging in bags, the use of bags other than the blue bag provided for this purpose is prohibited.
Please remove plastic films that cover the whole of bottles, trays or containers and dispose of them separately in the blue bag.
Flatten the plastic bottles to reduce their width (not their height) and replace the cap.
Do not nest packaging items inside one another and do not pre-pack your PMD packaging waste in tied bags.
Don’t attach anything to the outside of the blue bag.
PMD packaging must have a maximum volume of eight litres (8 l).
Bags should be a maximum of fifteen kilograms (15 kg).
PMD packaging may be placed loose in the container. If you wish to use blue bags in the container, these must be the official bags.
To be accepted for collection, containers must be easy for our teams to handle. It is important to consider their weight and where to leave them. A container that is too heavy, left on cobbles or gravel, or needs to be lifted off a curb may be impossible to collect, so pay attention to these details when preparing your containers for collection.

We also encourage you to download our sorting memo and to fix where it can easily be seen (fridge door ...)..

Sorting memo

Food waste represents about 40% of your white bag. Sorting them allows for green energy recovery and production of compost. Find here all the information on the sorting of food waste in the Brussels Region.

What?

What waste should be sorted in this category?

Waste authorized in the “Food or kitchen waste” category:

Food or kitchen waste originating from the normal running of a business, i.e. waste that is similar in nature and composition to waste originating from households.

Meal leftovers / leftovers on plates (including leftover meat and fish)
Leftover bread dough from bakeries in any quantity
Fruit and vegetable peel
Confectionery without its packaging
Coffee grounds
Tea bags made of paper only
Paper towels used to clear up food leftovers only
Paper tissues and napkins
Expired foods (without their packaging).

Waste refused in the “Food or kitchen waste” category:

Non-food waste, even if biodegradable
Compostable / biodegradable packaging
Green / garden waste
Inert waste (soil, stone, glass, etc.)
Toxic waste
Liquid food waste such as soup, oil (see “Oils”), dairy products, etc.
Waste of animal or non-animal origin that is rejected for public health reasons (cat 1, cat 2, FASFC-rejected)
Soap and cleaning product residue

Food supplements
Medications
Flour
Diapers / nappies
Wood ash
Shells: eggs, nuts, oysters, mussels, etc.
Litter, even biodegradable
Bones, carcasses and fish bones
Fruit stones

Where?

Where should you put your waste?

In the orange bag

Can be bought in shops.
Can be placed in the small orange container for collection.

In de oranje container

Supplied for free.
Can be used during collection to prevent the bag being torn by animals.
Must be used WITH the orange bag. Food waste cannot be thrown directly into the orange container.
Remember to return it as soon as possible after the lorry has passed.

In the orange container (apartment buildings)

The households can obtain a free orange container from one of our Recypark and from their local authority.

MUNICIPALITIES

Anderlecht

Address: Rue de Weeweyde, 100, 1070 Anderlecht.
Openings hours: from Monday to Friday between 8 am and 3 pm.