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Vegetable loofah brings several benefits and is more sustainable than plastic dishwashing sponge

Image: Luffa/vegetable loofah by Guilherme Jofili is licensed under (CC BY 2.0)

The most common dishwashing sponge in kitchens, the synthetic foam one, is actually made of polyurethane plastic, a difficult-to-recycle material based on petroleum and other synthetic chemicals. This makes their replacement by vegetable loofah a good initiative, as they also work as a dishwashing sponge, have greater durability and their raw material is natural and fully biodegradable.

The vegetable loofah, or vegetable sponge, is a fruit that grows on a tall climbing plant, belonging to the genus huffa. It is specially cultivated for the fibers of the dried fruit, which can be used as a dishwashing sponge, bath sponge, cleaning sponge and even as an insole. Learn more in the article: "Vegetable loofah: how to use it and its many benefits".

As a fruit, vegetable loofah is more sustainable than a polyurethane dishwashing sponge. The vegetable sponge biodegrades easily and can be recycled at home through dry composting - wet composting, or composting with earthworms, is not recommended, as detergent or soap can be toxic to earthworms. Learn more about this topic in the Guide: how is composting done?.

Vegetable loofah is cheaper (if bought at fairs and local markets) and even more profitable, as it can be cut into pieces, despite lasting as long as a synthetic dishwashing sponge. Using vegetable loofah, you also encourage small farmers who produce the plant and preserve the use of plastic materials for more noble uses than being raw material for a contaminating object, with a very short useful life. In addition, using the vegetable loofah as a dishwashing sponge still preserves your dishes and utensils from the scratches caused by synthetic models. Check out the advantages!

• Is it possible to decontaminate the kitchen sponge?
• There are microplastics in salt, food, air and water
• Understand the environmental impact of plastic waste on the food chain
• Is a dishwasher sponge recyclable? Understand

Benefits of Using an Eco-Friendly Dishwashing Sponge

Dishware

The vegetable loofah works perfectly well as a natural and ecological dishwashing sponge. It cleans dishes as well as a synthetic dish sponge and has the great advantage of not scratching your cutlery, plates and pans.

If you have problems with those hard-to-remove crusts, add your ecological dishwashing sponge with steel wool, another alternative for washing dishes, as it is a material that decomposes more easily when it oxidizes, with less significant damage to the environment than the synthetic polyurethane sponge.

Vegetable loofah in house cleaning

Better than synthetic sponge and steel wool, besides being sustainable, vegetable loofah can also be used as a cleaning sponge. It does not scratch tiles, utensils, glass and wood furniture.

plant your vegetable bush

If you want to have a natural dishwashing sponge on hand (and for a very low cost), you can grow your vegetable loofah at home! Learn more about this topic in the article: "How to plant vegetable loofah?" or in the following video:

How to soften vegetable loofah

If you grow it at home, just remove its husk and seeds, soak it in warm water for 30 minutes and let it dry. After that, you will be ready to use your natural sponge with no weight on your conscience!

Maintenance

In a research at the Clinical Microbiology Laboratories of the Monte Sinai Hospital in New York (USA), three doctors realized that leaving the sponge in a humid environment, such as in our bathrooms and kitchens, causes the proliferation of bacteria, some even dangerous (of the present genus in hospital infections). For readers with immune-related illnesses such as lupus, anemia, hemophilia, diabetes, or post-surgery periods, it's worth paying attention.

If not sanitized, the natural sponge, when moistened, may show sparse colonies of bacteria in the form of bacilli and staphylococci, even if it has not yet been used. These microorganisms can evolve into a flora of bacteria resistant to antibiotics and the human body's defenses, but they are easily preventable with proper cleaning of the vegetable loofah.

The main thing is that you let the vegetable loofah dry completely between washing the dishes, preferably in the sun, so that bacteria do not find an environment to propagate. It is also important that the kitchen window and door are always open - and if you want extra care, always wash the natural sponge after use.

Decontamination methods are no longer recommended. Placing a sponge in the microwave can increase the amount of pathogenic microorganisms. Learn more about this topic in the article: "Is it possible to decontaminate the kitchen sponge?".

If you chose the natural model and your dishwashing sponge is a different color than when you bought it, or it smells weird, or more gelatinous than rough, then there's nothing to do but change it - all this is a sign of a very populous culture of bacteria. Purchase your natural sponge at the eCycle portal .