it's all right, it's all natural

I've developed a mild phobia towards plastic lately, more specifically towards things that won't degrade over a million years. While there are certainly lots of benefits to this kind of resilience, I'm mindful of how much the practices of my every day life is contributing to this resilience... in the negative way. I've made small steps towards decreasing our household consumption of plastics and petroleum based products. It's not always easy and I just keep at it reminding myself not to go crazy and just to do the best I can.

So I was really excited to see this:


Seems like they offered a sponge-only model for a while, but recently my local Whole Foods was stocked with this scrubby version which is great since I like to really get into my dishes and scrub, scrub scrub.

Though I am a little skeptical when products are overtly labeled as being all natural or chemical free (there are plenty of all-natural, chemical free things out there that still equal yucky in my book). But I read over the label and the thing I like best about this scrubby sponge is that it's 100% biodegradable. Hi-five!

In the sink, the loofah does get a little poofy but not as much as the ones you buy for your bath time scrub. I'm a little worried that the wiry bits might be "woven" too loosely causing food bits to stay enmeshed in the sponge, but so far it's been okay. The only negative thing I can see about this sponge so far is that the scrubby surface isn't as fine as the Scotch-Brite brand that I've been using. It's that loose "woven" nature of the loofah, I guess. So it's not the same kind of scrubbing effectiveness as Scotch-Brite. But I've taken to soaking my dishes in really hot water in the sink after dinner. And when I get back from the gym a few hours later, I do the washing up while I'm cooling down from my work out and the stuck food bits wash off easily. So for my kitchen routine it's worked out well and for me the biodegradability outweighs the minor inconvenience of a different scrubbing experience.

The one other downside is that it's not cheap. Two scrubby sponges set me back $5. I'm excited that more eco-friendly products are offered in grocery stores. I can't wait till they become popular enough to drive the prices down. In the meantime we do what we can with our budget to include these kinds of purchases as part of our every day routine. Sometimes, it sort of feels unfair that as a do-gooder I have to pay the price (literally) for doing my part to be a responsible member of this planet. But that's okay. I'd rather spend my money on loofah scrubby sponges than an "impressive" sports car or whatever the kids are throwing their money on these days.

Oh and that bottle of method spray stuff in the background? I'm gonna write a post singing the praise of that product as well.