How to Clean a Dustpan and Broom Set | Deep Clean Method

A crusty dustpan and smelly broom don’t just look bad — they spread dirt back onto floors you just swept. Most people rinse the broom head once and forget the dustpan entirely, but a proper clean takes about 30 minutes and uses nothing more than dish soap, a bucket, and a scrub brush. The method is the same whether you own a basic synthetic set or a bamboo-handled model, with a few material-specific tweaks. Here’s the exact routine, including a faster machine option for when you’re short on time.

Why Cleaning Both Parts Matters

The dustpan collected what the broom swept — so re-storing a clean broom in a grimy dustpan undoes your work. Pet hair and cooking grease get embedded in bristles and the dustpan’s lip, turning a tool that should pick up debris into one that smears it.

Step-by-Step Soak and Scrub Routine

This is the most thorough method. It handles all standard dustpan and broom sets, including synthetic bristles, rubber pans, and plastic dustpans.

1. Shake Out Loose Dirt

Take the broom and dustpan outside. Whack the broom head against a hard surface or your shoe to dislodge dry debris. Empty the dustpan into the trash. For hair tangled in bristles, run the dustpan’s integrated comb across the bristles — many newer sets like O-Cedar models include this feature, and it saves minutes of picking.

2. Prep the Soaking Solution

Fill a bucket or plugged sink with warm to hot water — never boiling water, which can warp plastic or crack bamboo handles. Add 2 tablespoons of standard dish soap per gallon of water.

3. Soak Broom Bristles

Submerge only the bristle end of the broom — keep the handle and any ferrule (the metal band that connects bristles to handle) above water. Let it soak for 15–30 minutes. Bamboo handles should avoid prolonged submersion; if your handle is bamboo, limit the bristle soak to 10 minutes and wipe the handle with a barely damp cloth afterward.

4. Soak the Dustpan

Place the dustpan in the same basin or a second basin for 5 minutes. Plastic and rubber dustpans can stay a bit longer, but there is no benefit past 10 minutes. If your dustpan is dishwasher-safe — check its underside for a label — you can skip the soak and run it through the top rack of your dishwasher on a normal cycle.

5. Scrub Everything

Scrub the bristles against the bucket bottom or against a scrub brush in a circular motion. Focus on the base of the bristle block, where the grime concentrates. For the dustpan, use a stiff brush to work out caked-on debris from the lip and corners. Rinse both under running water for about 30 seconds, rubbing with your fingers until no suds remain and the water runs clear. An old comb dragged through damp bristles after rinsing will pull out any remaining hair.

6. Air-Dry Completely

Shake off excess water, then set the broom bristle-end down on a drying rack or hang it outside in a shaded spot. Lay the dustpan on its back on a rack. Direct sunlight can yellow plastic over time, so indirect air-drying is better. Do not re-store until both are bone-dry — damp storage breeds mildew, and you will smell it the next time you sweep. Allow 4–5 hours of drying time at normal room humidity.

Alternative Methods for the Time-Crunched

If soaking feels like too much effort, two shorter routes work nearly as well.

Vacuum method: Attach a crevice or hose tool to your vacuum cleaner and push the end directly into the broom bristles. The vacuum pulls embedded dirt and hair from deep inside. Run it across all four faces of the bristle block, then vacuum the dustpan lip. This takes 2 minutes but does not remove grease or kill bacteria — use it as a weekly maintenance step between deep soaks.

Machine-wash method: Air-dry the towel-wrapped bundle for 4–5 hours in the sun. This works for synthetic sets only — bamboo handles or wooden parts will warp. When you need to replace a set that is too far gone to save, our best dustpan and broom picks cover durable options that handle repeated cleanings well.

Three Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Ignoring the dustpan: A clean broom stored in a dirty dustpan picks up old grime on the first stroke. Clean both together.
• Skipping the drying time: Re-storing a damp broom or dustpan traps moisture against the handle and bristles, causing mildew and a musty smell that will transfer to every floor you sweep.
• Soaking bamboo or wood handles: Natural handles absorb water and crack as they dry. Keep the water level below the handle joint, or switch to a damp-cloth wipe-down for any bamboo-handled broom.