How to clean candle holders

Freeze the Candle Wax

Place the candle in the freezer for several hours or until it is frozen. The wax should pop right out of the container, but you can also loosen it with a butter knife if necessary. Scrape off any residue and then clean the container with soap and water.

Keep Candleholders Clean

To prevent wax from sticking to a candleholder, rub a thin coat of olive oil on the base of the holder before lighting the candle. If your holder already has some wax buildup, mix olive oil with dish soap to clean it out.

Put the pot on the stove, place your jar candle in the water, and use an extremely low heat to warm the water and soften the wax (enough to collect the wax at the bottom of the pot). After the wax has collected at the bottom, wait for the wax and jar to completely cool, and place the jar in the freezer.

Start by placing a spent candle jar in the freezer overnight. In the morning, take the container out of the freezer and flip it upside down—the lump of wax should pop right out. If it doesn’t, use a spoon or butter knife to press down on one corner of the wax to lift and remove.

All three of our brands — Yankee Candle®, WoodWick®, and Chesapeake Bay Candle®, including auto and home fragrance products — can be recycled for free.

If you have removed all of the wax, the wick, and the label, then your empty glass jars can be curbside recycled — but please recycle all of your candle jar lids through TerraCycle®, as lids are not accepted by local recycling programs.

Most candle jars are made of glass and can be recycled curbside. Be sure and remove any residual wax first.

Can you use a toothpick as a candle wick? Yes, you can use a toothpick as your candlewick. Yesterday I lit a scented tealight candle. The candle wick burned up to 1 mm above the wax, extinguished, and could not be burnt any further.