Most kitchen sponges are made out of a mixture of non-recyclable wooden cellulose and petroleum-derived plastics, reminiscent of spun polypropylene fibers. They generally include microplastics that contaminate the ocean and linger within the setting, making a change to biodegradable sponges one option to cut back microplastics in your house.
We evaluated compostable supplies, scrubbing effectiveness, and the claims made by producers to search out the most effective totally biodegradable sponges. For extra about our analysis and methodology, try the What To Look For part following our product suggestions. Our favourite for many kitchen cleansing eventualities is the Etee Loofie Scrubber.
Listed here are the most effective biodegradable sponges.
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Etee
Etee Loofie Scrubber kitchen sponges have a delicate aspect for wiping and a tough aspect for scrubbing. The material aspect is a spongy cellulose-cotton and wooden cellulose dishcloth. The scrubbing aspect is product of fibrous loofah plant materials that gained’t scratch dishes. The 2 sides are sewn collectively utilizing cotton thread (relatively than generally used polyester thread) which makes this sturdy sponge reusable and totally biodegradable.
Offered individually or as a three-pack, Etee recommends changing your scrubber sponge each three to 5 weeks, relying on how you employ them. You may clear it frequently by including it to the highest rack of your dishwasher. It’s additionally match to be used in different components of the home, together with the toilet.
Etee extends its no-plastic ethos to its packaging as properly, transport Loofie Scrubbrs in recycled cardboard, sealed with biodegradable cellulose tape. A portion of earnings additionally go to socially-conscious initiatives together with the Mississauga Meals Financial institution (native to the Ontario producer) and the WestCoast Kids’s Clinic.
When your Loofie Scrubber is worn out, it may be composted and even buried in your backyard, the place it should decompose inside a month.
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Blueland
Very similar to the Etee Loofie, the Blueland Scrub Sponge is double-sided, with a cellulose sponge on one aspect and a loofah on the opposite. Additionally hand sewn with cotton thread, this sponge could be washed on the highest rack of your dishwasher and composted when it’s worn out.
These sponges can be found in packs of three or six. Once you purchase six, they’re solely about $3 every—a greater deal than a three-pack Etee scrubbers. Blueland is one in all a number of firms whose focus is on decreasing plastic waste and utilizing biodegradable packaging every time attainable.
Blueland is a Licensed B Corp and Cradle to Cradle Licensed which implies the product should exceed requirements for materials well being and reuse, renewable vitality and carbon administration, water stewardship, and social equity.
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Zero Waste Membership
Cellulose is present in plant cell partitions and extracted from wooden pulp to be used in paper and different merchandise, together with these biodegradable kitchen sponges from Zero Waste Membership. Whereas many different kitchen sponges mix cellulose with plastic fibers, these biodegradable, zero-waste sponges are made out of 100% wooden pulp.
Every Zero Waste Sponge can take up as much as ten occasions its weight in liquid, but additionally dry rapidly to reduce micro organism progress. They are often washed within the dishwasher or microwaved to increase their usefulness, then composted or buried after just a few weeks of use.
The Zero Waste Membership sponges are offered in packs of two. Buy contribute to environmental initiatives, together with environmental nonprofit 1% for the Planet.
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Courtesy of Bundle Free
At first look you would possibly guess that pure loofah is made out of a sea sponge or dried coral due to their coarse, spongy consistency and tubular form. However they’re truly made out of the fruit of the plant Luffa aegyptiaca, a vine-grown member of the squash household.
Clear Planetware Heirloom Mayan Loofahs are sourced from a single-family farm in Guatemala, utilizing Mayan heirloom selection seed. The growers do not use pesticides or herbicides, and the loofah sponges are unprocessed, leading to a vegan loofah that is 100% plant fiber. As such, these Planetware loofahs are totally compostable, decomposing inside 30 days when buried or added to a composting pile.
Accessible singly, or in packs of 5, the flattened loofahs are available in recycled and recyclable packaging. Clear Planetware is a Inexperienced America licensed enterprise, which units requirements for social justice practices, environmental sustainability, and transparency.
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Zero Waste Membership
Powerful cleansing jobs, like burned on meals or hardened grease require a tricky dish sponge that may maintain as much as a number of makes use of. The Zero Waste Membership Coconut Dish Scrubber replaces metal wool or nylon scrub pads with a scourer made out of the fibrous “coir” that makes up the husk across the internal shells of a coconut. The upcycled coir fibers are sourced from coconut farms in India and certain along with rubber latex as an alternative of plastic (these with a latex allergy ought to keep away from). The result’s an abrasive and sturdy scrubber that will not scratch your cookware.
Packaged in a 100% recycled and recyclable unbleached field, with soy ink printing, the Coconut Dish Scrubber is offered in packs of 5. Plus, Zero Waste Membership crops a tree for every product offered.
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No Tox Life
This cleaning sponge is made out of the roots of the Konjac plant. Its roots are spun right into a spherical puff that retains water. When soaked with heat water, it turns into a wonderful scrubber, that lightly exfoliates pores and skin together with infused charcoal, which absorbs floor oils. The sponge is light sufficient for day by day use, together with for these with delicate and acne-prone pores and skin.
After its first use, which entails a 10-15 minute soak, the No Tox Life LUNA Charcoal Sponge will swell up with heat in about two minutes for day by day cleansing. It may be used alone, or together along with your most popular facial cleanser. When completed, merely rinse, squeeze out extra moisture, and grasp dry utilizing the built-in loop.
The LUNA Charcoal Sponge lasts for about three months, although boiling or microwave sanitizing can double its lifespan. When you’re accomplished with it, the 100% plant-based sponge could be composted.
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Amazon
The EcoTools BioBlender is a vegan make-up sponge which has a novel form designed to supply three completely different edge sorts for versatile make-up utility, together with a flat high edge to make use of underneath eyes. It is also been licensed as cruelty-free by the Individuals for the Moral Remedy of Animals (PETA).
The BioBlender is made out of simply 5 components, together with corn and a proprietary ingredient referred to as bionanopol. Described by EcoTools because the “secret ingredient” behind the product’s biodegradability, bionanopol is a biodegradable foam that is been licensed as a biobased product by the U.S. Division of Agriculture, which means it’s made out of renewable, pure supplies. It has been additional licensed compostable by the American Society of Testing and Supplies Worldwide, utilizing a testing protocol particular to plastics. Whereas the precise nature of the bionanopol is secret, it may be a part of a class of supplies generally known as bioplastic, which has some environmental downsides.
Offered individually or as a two-pack, the EcoTools BioBlender packaging is printed with soy ink and authorized biodegradable by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Licensed, which ensures that wooden and paper merchandise come from responsibly managed forests. In contrast to disposable make-up sponges, the BioBlender can be utilized for 30 days.
Last Verdict
The Etee Loofie Scrubber (view at Amazon) is our favourite all-around sponge. It’s plant-based, manufactured by an environmentally-conscious firm, and double-sided, with sufficient scrubbing energy for many cleansing conditions. You can even introduce biodegradable merchandise to your magnificence routine with the No Tox Life LUNA Charcoal Facial Sponge (view at No Tox Life). It’s a charcoal-infused, plant-based face scrubber that’s light sufficient for delicate pores and skin and made out of plant roots.
What to Search for in Biodegradable Sponges
Supplies
To be biodegradable, a product should be made out of supplies that may be damaged down by microorganisms, decomposing again into the setting with out human intervention. Minimally-processed plant supplies, together with cotton, cellulose, and loofah, will biodegrade naturally over time with out spreading pollution or bioaccumulating within the meals chain.
Plastics ought to be particularly prevented when searching for biodegradable merchandise, for the reason that petroleum-based materials can take a long time and even a whole bunch of years to interrupt down within the setting.
Lifetime
Some sponges are meant to get replaced every month whereas others are thought-about helpful for six months or extra. Which means a really inexpensive sponge could also be costlier to make use of over the long-term if it’s meant to be discarded rapidly, in comparison with a costlier sponge that may final for a number of months or extra.
It’s additionally essential to obviously perceive the time period “compostable” on a product label. Though there’s a connection between biodegradable and compostable, they aren’t the identical factor. Whereas objects can naturally biodegrade over time, the method of composting entails human intervention. Some merchandise could be labeled compostable even when they require the excessive warmth and strain present in a municipal compost facility.
Typical artificial sponges can persist for 20 to 40 years in even favorable biodegrading circumstances, which implies they may take a whole bunch of years to interrupt down within the anaerobic circumstances generally present in landfills.
However most of our advisable sponges could be safely buried in your backyard and “disappear” inside 30 to 90 days, relying on the native local weather and season. They can be tossed in with municipal yard waste and compost for curbside choose up in collaborating communities. Test along with your native recycling for info on any composting packages.
Firm Ethics
Accountable producers not solely use environmentally-friendly supplies, but additionally pay staff a residing wage, present protected working environments, and provides again to the communities that helped it succeed. Third social gathering organizations independently confirm and certify honest commerce practices. Search for seals from organizations like Truthful For Life on producer web sites, which can usually promote sustainable and honest commerce certifications on their “About” web page.
FAQs
Are sea sponges eco-friendly?
Sea sponges are stationary marine animals that filter vitamins from the water. A significant a part of the marine meals chain, sea sponges are a meals supply for fish, starfish, sea urchins and sea turtles together with the endangered hawksbill sea turtle.
Their porous our bodies permit water to flow into by way of them, which permit them to soak up vitamins, take away waste, and acquire oxygen and not using a circulatory, nervous, or digestive system. When harvested with out disturbing the bottom, sponges are able to rising again over a number of years, making them a probably renewable supply of highly-absorbent and pure sponges.
However whereas ocean sponges might look like an eco-friendly different, organizations just like the Worldwide Union for Conservation of Nature have decried overharvesting, which has put a number of species in danger. Whereas among the current demand for sea sponges could be met by sustainable aquaculture methods, populations of the porous animals—significantly within the Mediterranean—can be put in additional hazard if introduced as a full different to plastic sponges.
Whereas sure sponges discovered on the market could also be harvested sustainably, plant-derived sponges like loofah or wooden cellulose decisions are normally the extra eco-friendly choose.
Are biodegradable sponges sanitary?
All sponges, whether or not they’re artificial or biodegradable, will harbor micro organism and viruses due to their common contact with water and natural matter. However there are simple steps you’ll be able to take to maintain your biodegradable sponge sanitary.
Wash dishes with cleaning soap and sizzling water, then rinse your sponge completely and permit it to dry totally between makes use of. Daylight can additional reduce bacterial progress. However whereas fundamental upkeep steps considerably cut back the presence of micro organism, molds, and potential pathogens, additionally, you will need to periodically clear your sponge within the dishwasher or microwave. The U.S. Division of Agriculture discovered that microwaving a moist sponge for one minute eradicated 99.99999% of micro organism. Together with your sponge in a dishwasher load is equally efficient.
Why Belief Treehugger?
Lorraine Wilde has washed extra dishes than she’d prefer to admit over the past 40 years. She has used each number of sponge, dish cloths, and brushes to sort out jobs round her house. She maintains the very best requirements for something that touches her household’s pores and skin or has the potential to pollute delicate our bodies of water.
Lorraine additionally holds a Grasp’s diploma in environmental science and is a agency believer that customers could make wholesome, knowledgeable and environmentally-conscious decisions to guard their households and our planet.