How to Clean a Candle Jar and Reuse It: Glass and Tin

By Julia
A clean glass candle jar drying upside down on a linen tea towel, beside an open metal tin, a disc of white soy wax and a butter knife

Key Takeaways

  • Stop burning before the wax runs out. Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue warns that burning a candle to the bottom can crack the holder (Manchester Fire). Our tin candles' care card says to stop at half an inch, about 1 cm.
  • The freezer method is the easiest. Cold soy wax shrinks and lets go of the sides, so the last centimetre lifts out in one piece.
  • Hot water works for glass, but warm the jar first. Boiling water straight into a cold jar is hard on glass. For a tin, use the freezer.
  • Old wax goes in the bin, never down the sink. Yarra Valley Water asks you to keep fats and oils out of drains (Yarra Valley Water). Soy wax is a fat that sets as it cools.
  • Check before you recycle. Merri-bek's glass bin, for example, takes bottles and jars but not vases or drinking glasses (Merri-bek City Council). Candle jars aren't named either way, so check your own council.

To clean a candle jar, let the candle cool completely, then put it in the freezer for a few hours. The leftover wax shrinks and pops out with a butter knife. Peel off the wick tab, wash the jar in warm soapy water, and it's ready to reuse.

That's the short version. Below is the longer one: two methods, what's different about a tin, where the old wax should go, and what to do with the jar afterwards. We pour our candles into two vessels, a glass jar for the Signature range and a tin for the Weekday range, so we've covered both.

Before you start: let it cool, and stop at about a centimetre

Clean a jar only when the wax is completely cold. The CFA's candle safety factsheet is clear: "never move a lit or recently extinguished candle". It explains that "the hot, melted wax, as well as the flame itself, can cause serious burns" (CFA, Candle, Oil Burner and Incense Safety). A melt pool stays hot for a while after you blow it out.

The other rule is about the last burn. Don't burn a candle all the way down. Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue warns against it, because "the heat from the flame can cause the holder to crack or break" (Manchester Fire).

The care card on our Weekday tins says to stop once half an inch of wax remains, which is about 1 cm. In the card's words, burning past that point "can make the tin very hot". The same habit suits a glass jar. That last centimetre is also what you'll be cleaning out, so it's no loss.

You'll need:

  • A butter knife or a blunt spoon (not a sharp knife)
  • Paper towel
  • Warm water and dishwashing liquid
  • A little cooking oil, for sticky label or wick-sticker residue
  • A few hours of freezing time

Method 1: the freezer (easiest, and best for the last centimetre)

The freezer works because soy wax shrinks as it gets colder. You can sometimes see it in a candle kept in a cool room. Patches appear where the wax has pulled away from the glass, and candle makers call them wet spots. We explain why that happens in our post on frosting and wet spots. Freezing does the same thing on purpose.

  1. Check the candle is fully cold. Leave it at least a few hours after the last burn.
  2. Put it in the freezer for a few hours. Overnight is fine.
  3. Lift the wax out. Run a butter knife around the edge and push gently under the wax. It should pop free in one disc. If it sticks, give it another hour.
  4. Let the jar come back to room temperature before you wash it. Don't run hot water into a jar straight out of the freezer.
  5. Remove the wick tab. This is the small metal disc that held the wick upright. Slide the knife under it and lever it off.
  6. Wash and dry. Warm soapy water, then dry it straight away.

Method 2: hot water (glass jars with more wax left)

This method is for glass jars only. If a lot of wax is left, perhaps from a candle that tunnelled, hot water is quicker than chipping at it. Our guide to why candles tunnel explains how to stop that next time.

  1. Scrape out what you easily can first with a spoon, and put it on paper towel.
  2. Warm the jar first. Stand it in the sink and run hot tap water into it for a minute, then pour that out. A sudden jump from cold to boiling can crack glass.
  3. Fill it with water from a kettle that has stood off the boil for a few minutes, leaving a little space at the top. Tap water alone may only soften the wax rather than melt it.
  4. Let it stand until the wax melts and floats. Soy wax is lighter than water, so it rises to the top.
  5. Let the water cool completely. The wax sets into a solid disc on the surface.
  6. Lift the disc out and put it in the bin. Then pour the water away.
  7. Remove the wick tab, wash and dry as above.

Step 5 matters. Don't tip warm, waxy water down the sink. Yarra Valley Water lists "fats, oils or food scraps" among the things that shouldn't go into the sewerage system. It warns they can cause "blocked pipes which may impact your property or your neighbour's property" (Yarra Valley Water, What can go down the drain). Soy wax is made from soybean oil. Once it cools in your pipes, it sets.

Cleaning a tin is a little different

Our Weekday candles come in a tinplate tin, 8 cm across and 7 cm tall. Tinplate is thin steel with a tin coating, so it behaves differently from glass in two ways.

  • Use the freezer method, not hot water. Method 2 leaves the tin standing in water for hours, and a tin doesn't like that. A tin can't crack from a temperature change, so you can also skip the waiting in Method 1, step 4.
  • Dry it straight away. Wherever the coating is scratched, bare steel can rust if it's left wet. Don't leave a tin to soak, and don't put it in the dishwasher.

Here's how the two compare:

What to check Glass jar Tin
Freezer method Yes. Let it warm up before washing Yes. Wash straight away
Hot-water method Yes, if you warm the jar first No. Too long in water
Soaking Fine Wipe instead
Stop burning at About 1 cm of wax About 1 cm (the care card says half an inch)

The Weekday care card also asks you to burn for no more than 2–3 hours at a time, to "stop the tin from getting too hot". If you're choosing between the two, our wood wick vs cotton wick guide covers the other differences between the ranges.

Getting the label and sticker residue off

The wick tab is usually held down by a small adhesive sticker, and a label may leave glue behind on the outside.

  • For glass, soak the outside in warm soapy water for 10 minutes, then peel. For a tin, wipe it with a warm, soapy cloth instead of soaking.
  • Rub any sticky residue with a few drops of cooking oil on paper towel. The oil softens the glue so it wipes away.
  • Wash again to remove the oil.

Avoid scourers on the outside of a tin. They scratch the coating, and scratches are where rust starts.

What to do with the old wax

Leftover soy wax has two sensible destinations.

The bin. Wrap the wax in paper towel or put it in a container and put it in your general rubbish. Yarra Valley Water asks the same for cooking fat: "Pour kitchen fats and oils into a container; seal it and throw it in the bin" (Yarra Valley Water).

A wax warmer. Scraped-out wax from one of our candles can go into an electric wax warmer, the same way a wax melt does. Pick out any bits of wick first. Warmers have their own trade-offs, which we covered in our post on whether wax melts are safer than candles. In short, they still release fragrance into the room.

Don't put leftover wax in the compost or the food and garden bin. It isn't food or garden waste, and it carries fragrance oil.

Can you recycle candle jars in Victoria?

Possibly, but check first. The State Government requires every council to offer a separate glass service by 2027. It is still developing standard lists of what each bin takes (Glen Eira City Council). Until then, councils publish their own lists.

Merri-bek's list is a good example. It says "only glass bottle and jars can be put in your glass recycling bin", such as pasta sauce and jam jars. It excludes drinking glasses, vases, glass cooking dishes like Pyrex, perfume bottles and crockery. The reason is that "different types of glass have different melting points, so we cannot recycle different types of glass together" (Merri-bek City Council, Glass bins).

A candle jar isn't named on Merri-bek's list, or in Glen Eira's guide. So:

  • Clean it completely first. Councils ask for clean containers, so remove the wax, the wick tab and the sticker.
  • Check your own council's A-to-Z guide for "candle jar" or "candle holder" before putting one in the glass bin.
  • Lids go in the rubbish. Merri-bek says "loose lids and plastic bags should go in the general rubbish bin".

Tins are similar. Glen Eira, for example, takes "empty aluminium and steel cans used as food and drink packaging" in the yellow bin (Glen Eira City Council, Metal cans). A candle tin isn't food packaging, so look it up for your area.

The simplest option is usually to keep using it.

Ways to reuse a candle jar or tin

A clean jar or tin is a sturdy little container. Some uses that work well:

  • Desk and bathroom storage: pens, makeup brushes, cotton buds, hair ties.
  • A cutting in water: a glass jar suits a houseplant cutting while it roots. There's no drainage hole, so it's not a pot. If you have a cat, check the plant first.
  • A tealight holder: a tealight in its own cup, standing in a clean jar, on a heat-resistant surface.
  • Sewing kits, spare buttons, picture hooks: a tin with its lid is ideal.

One thing we'd steer you away from is food. We don't sell our jars or tins as food containers, so we'd keep them for things you don't eat.

Frequently asked questions

Can you put a glass candle jar in boiling water?

It's better not to. Pouring boiling water into a cold glass jar puts sudden heat stress on the glass. Warm the jar with hot tap water first, then use kettle water that has stood off the boil for a few minutes.

How do you get the last bit of wax out of a candle jar?

Freeze it. A few hours in the freezer makes the wax shrink and come away from the sides, and a butter knife lifts it out in one piece.

Can you put candle jars in the recycling bin?

Only once they're completely clean, and only if your council accepts them. Glass bins take bottles and jars. Lists like Merri-bek's exclude vases, drinking glasses and Pyrex. Candle jars aren't named, so check your council's guide.

Can you pour candle wax down the sink?

No. It sets as it cools and can block pipes. Let it harden, then put it in the bin.

Is it safe to reuse a candle jar for food?

We wouldn't. Our jars and tins aren't sold as food containers. Use them for storage, plants or a tealight instead.

The short version

Stop burning at about a centimetre, let the candle cool, and freeze it. The wax lifts out, the tab levers off, and a warm wash does the rest. Keep the wax out of the sink, check your council before you recycle, and if you can, give the jar a second job.

If you're about to light a new one, our guide to tunnelling shows how to get an even burn from the first light. That way there's less to clean out at the end.

Julia hand-pours every Yarra Light candle in Melbourne. Ours are 100% soy wax with phthalate-free fragrance oils made in Australia. The Signature range comes in an 8 x 9 cm glass jar. The Weekday range comes in an 8 x 7 cm tinplate tin. We sell soy candles, so we have a commercial interest in this topic. The cleaning steps here work for most glass and tin container candles, whoever made them.

Sources

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