Why You Should Never Vacuum Up Shattered Glass (& What To Do Instead)

So, you broke a vase, a drinking glass, or a piece of home decor, and now shattered glass is scattered all over the floor. It's time to grab your vacuum cleaner, right? 

Not so fast. While vacuuming up broken glass might seem like a straightforward solution, it's something you should never do. Vacuuming shattered glass is likely to cause damage to the bag of a vacuum cleaner or to the pipes and tubes of a bagless vacuum cleaner. Additionally, using a vacuum's spinning brush on glass can also create bigger problems, causing the glass to fly and spread. 

In other words, vacuuming glass is a safety hazard best avoided — with one exception, which we'll get to later — in favor of simple, manual cleaning methods, such as using a classic broom and dustpan. That said, you can also use other tricks to remove finer pieces of broken glass that are difficult to sweep up. So don't despair, because we have some non-vacuuming glass shards solutions ready for you.

Before you start cleaning up broken glass, take steps to keep everyone in your household safe. Glass can be very dangerous, so ensure pets and children aren't in the vicinity before getting started on removal. Keep them far away until you're fully done cleaning it up. It's not just pain you should be worried about, but also the serious infection risk of getting an unclean glass splinter stuck in your foot. 

Now, let's look at how to do the old-fashioned dustpan method the right way. First off, when removing glass, put on some basic safety gear as well. It's ideal to put shoes on for extra protection and to wear heavy-duty gloves when cleaning. Once you have your gloves on, start by carefully picking up large shards with your hands to remove them. Now it's time to grab that brush and dustpan to sweep up any pieces that remain. 

Dustpans are more versatile than you may realize — even the outer ridges have a purpose — and here's a neat sweeping hack you may not realize: If you wet your dustpan first, it can help prevent shards of glass from spilling once they're inside. However, don't stop there. There will probably still be some fine, small pieces left. To remove these, there is one kind of vacuum cleaner that is permitted at this point, and that's a shop vac, because it's designed specifically for industrial debris. If you don't have a shop vac on hand, though, there are some other easy solutions to the fine shards problem. 

To remove those painfully tiny pieces of broken glass that remain, one of the simplest solutions is to use some wet paper towels. Be sure to layer a few of them to ensure they'll be fairly thick. Next, you'll need to add water, to dampen the paper towel, and then press it into the area where glass remains. Carefully dispose of the paper towels.

Another easy way to clean up broken glass you probably never thought of is using a piece of bread. Simply grab a slice of soft bread and press it into the area with broken glass. Then, throw it away and repeat the process as necessary. This method gained a lot of fame on social media in 2023, and it has become increasingly popular since. 

No bread in the pantry? Well, then it's time to shift over to potatoes. To do this, grab a potato and cut a few slices, making sure they're fairly thick. Press a slice down into the spot with broken glass and then let the glass either (1) hook into the potato itself or (2) get pulled up by its moisture. It probably goes without saying that you don't want to eat the potato at this point, so get rid of it. 

Between potatoes, bread, and a dustpan, you should have all the tools you need to ensure no glass shards remain on the floor.