The New Blue Bag welcomes new types of metal packaging inside it. These include all types of aerosols, and no longer just food and cosmetic aerosols, as was the case previously. More metal packaging is therefore being collected, sorted and recycled thereafter. The sorting message has therefore once again been simplified for citizens by extending the sorting rules.
What are aerosols?
Aerosols are not only used for food products (for example for your whipped cream) and cosmetics (for your hair spray), but you can also find them in the form of air fresheners, shoe polishes etc. All of these can now be found in the PMD bag.
More packaging is being collected, sorted and recycled
This extension of sorting rules increases the quantity of metal packaging collected and, subsequently, the amount which is sorted in our new PMD sorting centres. This will therefore make it possible to recycle even more metal packaging. The recycling rate of household packaging placed on the Belgian market will see a further increase.
The majority of aerosols are made from aluminium or steel. This type of material can be recycled ad infinitum, without any of its quality being lost. Less energy is also required for recycling aluminium (95%) and steel (85%) compared to that used during the manufacturing of new steel and aluminium. The amount of CO2 emissions is therefore dramatically reduced when recycled.
All of the aerosols go in the New Blue Bag with the exception of…
Certain packaging (which may exist in ‘aerosol’ format) as this belongs to household hazardous waste. This small hazardous waste produced by households contains toxic components.
This waste is not allowed inside the New Blue Bag, as it requires special types of treatment and is dangerous for staff in the sorting centres. These must be brought to the recycling parks so that they can be processed in a secure manner by specialist companies. These include packaging:
- with childproof safety caps
- packaging of paints and varnishs, glues, fuels, lubricants and motor oils, pesticides and silicone tubes.
- with these pictograms:
