• Sorting packaging to be recycled (yellow bags) :
The yellow bin bags are for :
• Plastic bottles and cans (cans of oil for extra heating are also recyclable)
• Metal tins, cans and foil containers
• Food cartons and small packaging cartons
• Newspapers, magazines and paper.
For large quantities of newspaper, magazines and paper extra disposal units have been installed in each commune.

• Sorting glass for the bottle bank :
All 36 communes managed by SMICTOM have been installed with bottle banks for the recycling of glass.
SMICTOM intervenes rapidly if the bottle bank overflows and inspects the bottle banks regularly to see if certain need emptying more often than others.

• Sorting newspapers, magazines and paper :
Newspaper disposal units have been installed in all 36 communes since June 2003.
Sorting paper in the yellow bin bags costs 200€ per ton at the sorting centre (with no financial incentive in return).
Newspapers, magazines and paper represent 60% of the weight of a yellow bin liner.
Placing newspapers, magazines and paper in one of the disposal units provided means they can be recycled at zero cost.
Contact your local town hall or SMICTOM to find out where your commune’s newspaper disposal unit is situated.

• Sorting degradable refuse
By 2009, communes with population’s of under 2000 will be obliged to equip 50% of their households with individual composting systems which will reduce the volume of refuse by 30% while favouring garden waste (leaves, grass cuttings etc.) and degradable household waste (leftover food, coffee grounds etc.) which can be transformed into high-quality compost for gardens and vegetable plots. In 2005, the "individual compost bin for all" operation continues, in order to identify households interested in this system of recycling and ascertain local requirements.
Please contact SMICTOM if you are interested by this project. A participation of 15€ is required in exchange for an compost bin.

• Enemies of sorting
Attitude towards our own refuse have enormously evolved and for most of us it has become an automatic reflex to recycle waste. However, certain errors persist :
Food containers, cling film, plastic boxes and sachets, yoghurt pots, leftover food, kitchen utensils, greasy paper, wallpaper, garden waste, nappies, tissues and paper napkins, buckets and basins are not to be placed in the yellow bags.
They are considered residual household refuse and should be put in black bin bags or taken to the refuse collection centre.