Every year, households in Belgium throw more than 40,000 tonnes of incorrect waste in the blue PMD recycling bag, waste organisation Fost Plus reports. Most of this is plastic items that are not packaging.
The only items that should be put in the blue recycling bag are plastic packaging (P), metal packaging (M) and drinks cartons (D). Yet people are finding it increasingly difficult to sort correctly, figures from Fost Plus show.
Last year, the organisation collected 285,000 tonnes of PMD waste, equal to 12 bags per person per year. A sample last month showed that 14.5% was not sorted correctly.
“That’s 40,000 tonnes of incorrect waste, accounting for four times the weight of the Eiffel Tower,” says Valerie Bruyninckx of Fost Plus. “This is mainly waste that is not packaging: batteries, appliances with rechargeable batteries, toys or electronic devices.”
People are putting in more and more things that have nothing to do with packaging
The “P” used to stand for plastic bottles, but for the past four years it has been extended to plastic packaging. “However, that says it very clearly: packaging only,” Bruyninckx says. “Yet people are putting in more and more things that have nothing to do with packaging.”
Processing incorrectly sorted waste costs a lot of money and also involves risks for the people working in collection and sorting. For instance, a battery can accidentally get crushed in the sorting process and catch fire.
The sorting centres are geared towards plastic packaging and not other material. “As a result, all that mis-sorted plastic goes to waste, we cannot recycle it,” Bruyninckx said.
There is also a cost associated with all those sorting errors. Processing 1 tonne of sorting errors costs €1,000, so processing 40,000 tonnes costs around €40 million.
What can go in the blue bag?
Plastic packaging: bottles, flasks, dishes, trays, jars, tubes, bags, drink capsules (e.g. coffee)
Metal packaging: drinks and food cans, aerosols, trays, bowls, lids, caps, drink capsules (e.g. coffee)
Drinks cartons
What cannot go in the blue bag?
Packaging consisting of a mix of materials that cannot be separated from each other
Packaging with a childproof lid
Packaging with a larger capacity than 8 litres
Packaging of small hazardous waste, such as pesticides, silicone sealants and motor oil
Other materials
Batteries and appliances with batteries, such as garden lights, mobile phones and vapes
Electrical and electronic devices, such as toothbrushes and hairdryers
Styrofoam
Plastic toys
Textiles, shoes, nappies
You can find a sorting guide on the Better Sorting website.