Yes, You Should Be Cleaning Your Kitchen Sponges—Here’s How

Kitchen sponges can be revolting cesspits of harmful bacteria, crawling with E. coli, Salmonella, and enough unwanted microbes to rival a laboratory Petri dish.

A sponge’s holey structure is part of why it’s such a hotbed for microscopic activity. These moisture-ridden cleaning tools are designed to absorb water and excess food matter stuck to pots and pans, but they also allow bacteria to flourish. In fact, a 2020 study from the American Society for Microbiology found that Salmonella, E. coli, and Staphylococcus aureus can survive for up to 16 days on the surface of one. Not only that, but sponges can also harbor mold, yeast, and foodborne pathogens.

As surreal as it might seem, regularly cleaning your sponges can be the best way to avoid spreading germs around your home and cookware. Fortunately, there are a few easy ways to go about it, like using white vinegar or bleach, which may help make your kitchen cleaner and provide more peace of mind.

How to Clean a Sponge With White Vinegar

For a cheap, easy, and eco-friendly way to clean sponges, consider using white vinegar. According to some cleaning experts, you don’t have to dilute the vinegar with anything. Just let a sponge soak for about five minutes once a week or so, then rinse it out and leave it out to dry. This should de-gross it to a reasonable extent.

How to Clean a Sponge Using Bleach

Using bleach is another affordable way to potentially rid your sponges of unwanted bacteria. Good Housekeeping recommends mixing 3/4 cup of bleach in a gallon of water. Keep the sponge submerged for five minutes (just like you would with the vinegar), and then wring it out, let it dry, and you should be good to go.

How to Clean a Sponge in Boiling Water

If a couple of simple, five-minute options aren’t enough to convince you to cleanse your sponges of the millions of teeny-tiny grotesqueries hiding within them, consider something even more straightforward: boiling water. For this method, boil 1 cup of water in a pot and let the sponge sink in for up to seven minutes, then pull it out, let it cool down, and wring it out to dry.

Should You Use a Microwave or Dishwasher to Clean Sponges?

Alternatively, microwaving a wet sponge for anywhere from one to five minutes (depending on its material) and leaving it to cool afterward for 15 minutes could potentially kill bacteria lurking there. Be sure to soak the sponge thoroughly and put it in a microwave-safe dish before you do, as it can be a potential fire hazard otherwise. Using a dishwasher to clean sponges works just as easily, too—slip one on the top rack and set the machine to its hottest wash and dry cycle, and that should do it.

Though multiple sources claim these sponge cleaning hacks can get rid of up to 99.9 percent of all germs in sponges, other experts aren’t so sure. A 2017 study found that using a microwave and/or dishwasher might allow higher concentrations of other unwanted bacteria, like Moraxella osloensis, to thrive, making those dirty sponges even stinkier. According to The New York Times, tossing a sponge in a washing machine at its highest setting with bleach and a powder-based detergent may be a more effective way to disinfect it than either of those two methods.

How Often Should You Replace Dirty Kitchen Sponges?

All it really takes to clean sponges is about five minutes once a week. But even if you are sanitizing them regularly, most cleaning experts still recommend replacing sponges at least once a month, although realistically, you should probably do it every two to three weeks, or at the first sign of any funky odors. You could even try using nonporous silicone scrubbers or machine-washable dishcloths instead, as those cleaning tools can be more hygienic than classic sponges.

Ultimately, it doesn’t sound like an insurmountable task, right? And yet, can anyone really hold their hands up and say they’re going to do it and clean their sponges every week? (Don’t worry, we’ll wait.)

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