Biodegradable Sponges

Those conspicuous yellow and green kitchen sponges are ubiquitous in kitchens everywhere across the land. Long presumed to be the pinnacle of dishwashing instruments, this silly little kitchen sponge has lost its shine now that we’ve realised that it has been sneakily shedding microplastics down the drain all this time. What a disaster. (I’m sure you’ve noticed before that the green side of the sponge flakes off leaving green specs all over your sink… those are microplastics.) Once no longer fit for purpose, these green and yellow monstrosities then have to be thrown into landfills as they cannot be recycled.

This superior sponge is way better than its plastic counterpart, as, for one, it does not shed harmful microplastics. For me, that should be a basic minimum requirement of spongedom at the very least.

But wait, it gets better! These biodegradable sponges are more absorbent than Aquaman on a bad hair day, as each sponge holds ten times its weight in water, which also makes it equivalent in strength to Antman. If two references to superheroes in one sentence doesn’t manage to convey how SUPER these sponges are then I don’t what will.  

With a funky wave design that makes these sponges especially ergonomic to hold, these are sponges par excellence.

Despite all their heroic qualities, these humble sponges should be treated just like any other kitchen or cleaning sponge. Once your sponge has come to the end of its useful life, cut it up into small pieces and add them to your home compost for natural processing. It can also go in the food waste bin.

Please note: The yellow dye in the sponge may run the first time you use it; this will stop after the first few uses. It should not stain, but run it under the tap and squeeze it out a few times before wiping anything down with it just to be safe.

£2.50 for two sponges, not bad, not bad. Of course, you can buy a pack of plastic sponges for a pound probably, but as already mentioned, plastic sponges are ridiculously designed to shed microplastics down the drain. To what end? Oh, why lord of sponges, why?! Those green and yellow monstrosities make a mockery of their purported purpose of aids to cleaning. Clean dishes and surfaces yes, but a clean environment on the other hand… just don’t look outside and believe all is well.

If we have to pay a little bit more to ensure our cleanliness isn’t damaging, then it is probably worth the extra quid.

What are they made from?

These sponges are made from wood pulp, which is natural plant cellulose, and they are dyed with a pigment called yellow 3R which is a natural organic pigment.

The sponges are dyed yellow as if they were left ‘au naturel’ they would, with use, discolour to an unsightly brown. This would make people think that they were too dirty to use, because of the unfortunate staining, when actually, they would be useable for a lot longer. It’s hard to train your brain into accepting that something brown could be clean, hence the decision to dye these sponges a familiar yellow colour so that they wouldn’t be thrown out before their time.  

 

 

Where do they come from?

Made ethically in China. Shipped via sea freight rather than by air to reduce the carbon footprint of the product. Zero Waste Club plant a tree for each item they sell to offset any carbon emissions they make during production and shipping.   

 

 

Are they sustainable?

Wood pulp – Plant cellulose.

Yellow 3R Dye – ‘The dye is called YELLOW 3R and it is an FDA organic pigment yellow. It is safe to use, non-synthetic, vegan, and plastic-free.’

 

 

How about ethical?

Zero Waste Club put a lot of effort into being transparent about their supply chains. For each of their products, they provide a ‘makers story’ a mini-interview with one of the craftspeople who create these products. This is also printed on the packaging for the biodegradable sponges.

Here is an excerpt from this makers story: ‘My name is Lixiang, I am 45 years old, I have been working with this company for 3 years. I was born in Jiaxing Zhejiang Province. l have a cute daughter, I have been in the cellulose sponge business for more than 20 years. I hope you enjoy the quality of my work and the sponges I made. And did you know all of the production scraps of the sponges can be recycled into new sponges? Our factory is based in Yancheng City, Jiangsu province in China. The minimum wage in the province is 1830RMB per month. The minimum salary paid (with this company) is around 2,100RMB per month.’

This sponge is also vegan friendly!

 

 

Extra good stuff:

Zero Waste Club are…

• Vegan
• Plasticfree
• Use no chemicals
• All their woodbased material used such as bamboo for products or cardboard for packaging is FSC certified. This means these materials only come from areas with existing harvesting practices, no virgin/old-growth forest is cut down for these materials.
• Zero waste Club estimate they have offset around 100,000 singleuse plastics from being used so far.
• They plant a tree for every item they sell which is now over 100,000 trees!
• They reinvest their profits into the business to create more sustainable products and products made out of waste materials.

 

 

Conclusion –

These plastic-free sponges will let you sponge happily away with the clean conscience that you are no longer accidentally letting microplastics escape down the plughole to wreak havoc elsewhere…