The current rule fits in one sentence
All packaging goes in the yellow bin. Not just bottles and flacons as before, all of it.
The extension des consignes de tri already covered 98% of the mainland population on 1 January 2023. If you still hesitate over a yogurt pot, you are probably applying the old rule.
- Rigid plastic: bottles, flacons, pots, trays
- Flexible plastic: films, sachets, bags, outer wrapping
- Metal: cans, tins, aluminium trays, capsules
- Card and paper: boxes, leaflets, newspapers, envelopes
- Drinks cartons
The error that cancels everything else
Never put your packaging inside a closed plastic bag before dropping it in the yellow bin. It feels like the tidiest thing to do and it is the most costly.
At the sorting centre the machines cannot open bags. A closed bag is treated as a sorting error and goes to incineration with everything inside it, even if the contents were perfectly sorted.
Packaging goes in loose, straight into the bin.
No need to wash, and that is deliberate
Packaging soiled with food residue goes in the yellow bin as it is: yogurt pot, pizza box, soup carton, sandwich wrapper.
Emptying it properly is enough. Rinsing uses water for nothing, and the recycling process washes the material anyway.
The commonest errors, even among careful sorters
- Yogurt pots, blisters and toothpaste tubes: these are packaging, they go in the yellow bin
- Nesting packaging inside other packaging: machines read it as one object and sort it wrongly. Keep items separate
- Flattening bottles sideways: crush them lengthways instead, since flattened ones are sometimes read as paper
- Glass: never the yellow bin, always the glass container, and only glass packaging
- Plastic objects that are not packaging, a broken toy, a hanger, crockery: déchetterie, not the yellow bin
Glass, separately
Bottles, jars and jam pots go to the glass container. Metal lids come off and join the yellow bin.
What does not belong: crockery, drinking glasses, porcelain, mirrors, window glass and light bulbs. Those melt at different temperatures and damage the output.
When the bin overflows
A full bin is not permission to leave the bag beside it. Once one bag is on the ground others follow within days, and a collection point becomes a dumping spot.
Report it instead. A bin that overflows every week is not a civility problem but a capacity or frequency problem, and that is only corrected with concrete evidence. A dated, photographed history of the same point is what moves a local authority.
Worth noting too: putting waste out outside permitted hours or in an unsuitable container is a contravention, and the amounts rose on 5 June 2026. The detail is on our fly-tipping page.
Sources
Does a yogurt pot go in the yellow bin?
Yes, since the extension des consignes de tri. All packaging goes there, including pots, films, sachets and tubes.
Should packaging be washed?
No. Emptying it properly is enough. Rinsing wastes water without improving recycling.
Can I bag my recycling before putting it in the bin?
No, and it is a costly mistake. Sorting centre machines cannot open bags: the whole bag goes to incineration. Put packaging in loose.
Where does a broken plastic toy go?
To a déchetterie. It is not packaging, so it does not belong in the yellow bin even though it is plastic.
What if the bin permanently overflows?
Report it rather than leaving the bag beside it. Recurring overflow points to a capacity or frequency problem, and a dated history is what justifies a review.