What PMD accepts since 1 January 2026
This is the substance of the change, and it covers exactly the packaging people always hesitated over.
- Coffee capsules, both aluminium and plastic
- Empty household aerosols, such as deodorant, whipped cream and hairspray cans
- Packaging made partly of plastic and partly of metal, such as soup pouches, meat packaging and bread bags
Why that last point matters more than it looks
Mixed packaging was for years precisely the category people were told belonged in residual waste, because of the metal layer inside.
If you read that a pouch with an aluminium layer cannot go in PMD, check the date on that article. For this kind of mixed packaging it has been different since January 2026.
As empty as possible, and that is the only real requirement
Packaging has to be as empty as possible. Half-full packaging disrupts processing, and that is the reason behind the rule.
As empty as possible is not the same as clean. Scraping or pouring out is enough; rinsing costs water without gaining anything.
What still does not belong in PMD
- Food scraps
- Batteries, which have to be handed in separately
- Textiles
- Electronics
- Newspapers and paper, which have their own stream
The other streams, briefly
Paper and card must be clean and dry. A pizza box with baked-on cheese does not qualify, nor do greasy or wet sections. If part of the box is clean, tear that part off.
Glass means packaging glass: bottles and jars, without lids and caps. Drinking glasses, mirrors, window panes and oven dishes are a different material and do not belong.
GFT is vegetable, fruit and garden waste, including food scraps. Sand, stone and soil do not belong.
Residual waste is what genuinely fits nowhere else. It is not a bin for whatever you would rather not sort: the fuller it gets, the less is recovered.
Check your own municipality first, and that is not a cop-out
Some Dutch municipalities separate plastics AFTER collection. There you put PMD in with residual waste, and that is not a mistake, it is the intended system.
So the first step is always your own municipality’s waste guide. A national list is right about the PMD rules but not necessarily about whether you personally have to present PMD separately.
When the container is overflowing
A full container is not permission to put the bag beside it. Once one bag is there, more follow within a day, and a collection point has become a dumping spot.
Report it instead. A container that overflows weekly is not a matter of manners but of too little capacity or too low a frequency, and that only changes with concrete evidence. A dated series of photos of the same place is what moves a municipality.
Note too: a bag beside the container counts as dumping. What applies to that is on our page about illegal dumping.
Sources
Are coffee capsules allowed in PMD now?
Yes. Since 1 January 2026 both aluminium and plastic coffee capsules may go in PMD.
And empty aerosols?
Empty household aerosols such as deodorant, whipped cream and hairspray cans have also been accepted in PMD since 1 January 2026.
Do I need to rinse packaging?
No. The requirement is that it is as empty as possible, not that it is clean. Rinsing costs water without improving processing.
My municipality says PMD can go in residual waste. Is that right?
It may well be. Some municipalities separate plastics after collection. In that case follow your own municipality’s waste guide.
What do I do with a full container?
Do not put the bag beside it: that counts as dumping. Report it, so the capacity or the frequency gets reviewed.