How to Clean Up Broken Glass

Jessica asked, “How do I even pick up broken glass?”

You Will Need:

• Shoes
• Gardening gloves or tongs
• A broom & dustpan
• Thick tape
• Bread
• A lint roller
• Newspaper
• A vacuum
• A flashlight

Steps to Remove the Broken Glass:

1. Secure any pets away from the area.
2. Put on shoes if you don’t already have them on. Even when you have shoes on, you should still try to avoid stepping on any glass as it can get lodged into the sole of your shoe and be difficult to remove to transfer to another location.
3. Put on gardening gloves or use tongs to pick up the larger pieces of glass.
4. Sweep the glass into a dustpan.
5. You may have picked up shards of glass with your shoes when you were sweeping, so sweep off the bottom of your shoes when you’ve finished.
6. Wrap the glass in newspaper for disposal before putting it in the trash so that it doesn’t tear the trash bag.
7. Use thick tape, such as packing tape, to pick up any shards you see that were not swept into a dustpan. Pay special attention to grout lines if you have any as there will likely be many shards that have gathered there while sweeping.
8. Another method to pick gather up the smaller shards is to use a slice of bread. Simply wipe the bread over the area to sweep up the glass.
9. Run a lint roller over the area to pick up any shards you may have missed. Also run the lint roller over the gardening gloves and your shoes.
10. Run a vacuum hose along the edge of any large furniture, such as the refrigerator or entertainment center. Instead of using a vacuum hose, you can wrap a broom handle with duct tape with the adhesive facing outwards and swipe the broom under the furniture or appliance.
11. If you used the vacuum hose, immediately empty the canister before you forget about the glass or someone else empties it without knowing about the glass.
12. Shake out the broom over the newspaper or trash can and wipe off the dustpan.
13. If your pet’s food and water is in the same room as the broken glass, dump the food in the trash and wash both bowls thoroughly.
14. Turn off all lights in the area and shine a flashlight at various angles over the floor. Shards of broken glass that have been missed will glisten in the light.

You Will Need:

• Shoes
• Gardening gloves
• Ice cube tongs
• Newspaper
• Thick tape
• Lint Roller
• Vacuum hose

Steps to Remove the Broken Glass:

1. Secure any pets away from the area.
2. Put on shoes. Even when you have shoes on, try to avoid stepping on any glass.
3. Cover your hands with sturdy gardening gloves and pick up the larger pieces of glass.² If you don’t have gardening gloves or if it’s easier, ice cube tongs can be used instead.⁴ Do not use an oven mitt instead of gardening gloves; it is too bulky and you want to be absolutely certain that no shard of glass can come in contact with food.
4. Wrap the glass in a piece of newspaper for disposal.
5. Use thick tape, such as packing tape, to pick up as many shards as possible.³ Gently set the tape over the broken glass area and repeat with a new piece of tape until most (if not all) of the shards have been picked up. Try not to grind the glass into the carpet fibers or it will be more difficult to remove.
6. Run a vacuum hose over the area to remove any remaining shards. Do not vacuum the area instead of using the hose, as the shards can get caught on the beater brush and redeposited onto the floor later.
7. Immediately empty the vacuum canister before you forget about the glass or someone else empties it without knowing about the glass.
8. Run a lint roller over the gardening gloves to remove any lingering shards.
9. If you used tongs to pick up the glass, wash them thoroughly.
10. If your pet’s food and water is in the same room as the broken glass, dump the food in the trash and wash both bowls thoroughly.
11. Turn off all lights in the area and shine a flashlight at various angles over the floor. Shards of broken glass that have been missed will glisten in the light.

• If the glass is somewhere you can’t reach, such as slightly under the refrigerator or inside a garbage disposal, retrieve it with ice cube tongs or with the handle of a broom wrapped in duct tape with the adhesive side facing outward. Wash the tongs thoroughly when finished.
• If the broken glass is from a light bulb that is still in the socket, put on goggles to protect your eyes, then knock out the remaining glass before you start cleaning.

1. Green Housekeeping by Ellen Sandbeck
2. 10,001 Hints & Tips for the Home by Reader’s Digest
3. 869 New Uses for Old Things by Reader’s Digest
4. Handy Household Hints from Heloise by Heloise
5. Fix it, Clean it, Make it Last by Gayle K. Wood