Choose Earth-friendliness

I used to buy two pieces of kitchen sponges on a weekly basis. I felt it is imperative to change those regularly with all the bacteria formation and so on. But then I realized that this is against my eco-friendliness journey. I have been trying my best to Go Green! at home for quite a while now. So far, we've had fewer plastic trash so far and our kitchen scraps automatically go to our compost pail.

In a month's time, my trash bin has had at least three sponges in it. Commercial kitchen sponges do not decompose that easy. And the more of it out there, the more pollution and harm it does for the environment. I brought this up to a friend who is also an environment friendliness enthusiast. She suggested I use loofah. I thought it was weird. I mean that's meant to scrub your body. But then I know I have to try something so I cn be freed from my kitchen sponge hoarding.

So last August, I gave it a try. I actually loved it! It was easier to remove any stubborn dirt on the plate so it requires very little effort when scrubbing the dish. It's actually a good material to use for the ever delicate teflon pans. But do not be deceived by its gentleness, it can also easily remove hard-to-remove stains or grease from cast iron pans. We are big on rice here in the Philippines and I don't use rice cookers so I cook them the almost old-school way. Loofah can also easily remove any burnt rice on your pots. So its gentle yet tough and durable. And what's more is it is reliable when it comes to the not so easy parts of manual dishwashing.

Have I mentioned the bacteria build-up on those sponges? This is because sponges do not dry too easily. You would use it, rinse it with (a lot) of water and place it on a sponge dish. Loofah on the other hand easily rinses - comparably little amount of water than what you'll need for a commerciall plastic sponge. And the best part of it all, it can easily dry which makes it the least favorable tavern for bacteria.

It lasted for more than a month before I felt like I needed to replace it with a new one. See the savings? 😉

And when I'm done using the loofah, I returned it to the earth - well, in my compost pail - to be used for growing my plants. It feels good when you compost your kitchen scraps. It kinda makes you feel like you're not just feeding off the earth, you're giving something back.

With my efforts to Go Green, I don't actually feel like I'm trying to save Mother Earth. It's all been said before. When the time comes, Earth will just go on a full reboot to have a fresh start. Literally. But I'm still doing it anyway. Composting, minimalism, waste reduction. You know, all those stuff that would not harm the place I'm living in. I'm not even sure if it's making any difference but then again, it's better to try something instead of doing nothing, right?