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Top 10 Benefits of Using a Swedish Sponge Cloth

Swedish Sponge Cloths were invented by a Swedish engineer in 1949 as an easier, eco-friendly way to clean. Not only do they dry quickly, but they are ultra-absorbent and long-lasting. In fact, using a Swedish Sponge Cloth can replace 17 rolls of paper towels!

There are tons of benefits to using a Swedish Sponge Cloth instead of paper towels. In the sections below, we’ve compiled our top 10 reasons to switch to Swedish Sponge Cloths today!

A Swedish Sponge Cloth is Reusable

Swedish Sponge Cloths are designed to be reused multiple times over throughout their lifespan, while paper towels are only made for one-time use. Each Swedish Sponge Cloth can be washed 200 times or more, equaling 9+ months of use!

To keep them fresh and clean between uses, you can put your Swedish Sponge Cloth on the top rack of the dishwasher and run through a cleaning cycle. Our Swedish cleaning cloths can even go into the washing machine!

Swedish Sponge Cloths Are Compostable

Landfill waste is a global concern, leading many households to rethink the way that they dispose of waste. Not only do our Swedish Sponge Cloths decrease packaging waste with recyclable packaging, but our cleaning cloths are totally biodegradable!

Once your Swedish Sponge Cloth has reached the end of its useful life, you can put it in the compost instead of the trash. And all of our cleaning cloths are printed with non-toxic dyes, keeping plants, soil, water, and animals safe as they dissolve.

Swedish Sponge Cloths Absorb Better Than Paper Towels

Our Swedish Sponge Cloths are made from sustainably sourced cellulose and cotton. We use “waste cotton” for each Swedish cleaning cloth for an eco-friendly, sustainable product (meaning the fibers are too short to use in the textile industry and would otherwise be disposed of).

It’s this combination of cellulose and cotton that gives Swedish Sponge Cloths their amazing absorption – in fact, each Swedish Sponge Cloth can absorb up to 15 times their weight! That’s great news for any household, but especially those that are prone to frequent spills and cleanup.

A Swedish Sponge Cloth Will Last 9+ Months!

You can continue reusing your cleaning cloth from one cleaning session to the next. We’ve made our Swedish Sponge Cloths so durable that they can even be washed along with your kitchen towels!

At Ecologie, we’ve made our Swedish Sponge Cloths durable enough to last for a multitude of uses. In fact, you can put your Swedish Sponge Cloth in the dishwasher or the laundry machine up to 200 times (9+ months) before it’s time to put your cloth in the compost. Now that’s what we call durability!
Swedish Sponge Cloth with Rosa design in top rack of dishwasher

Swedish Sponge Cloths are Very Durable

Tired of having paper towels tear in your hands as you’re cleaning? There’s a better, more durable way to clean: use a Swedish Sponge Cloth instead! Made with a combination of cotton and cellulose fibers, Swedish Sponge Cloths are much thicker than paper towels – and they’re much more durable, too.

Once you’ve finished cleaning up dirt, dust, debris, and spills, simply rinse out your Sponge Cloth and let it air dry on a kitchen sink, over the faucet, or on a rack.
Swedish Sponge Cloth with Dog Days design used to wipe a dog's fur

A Swedish Sponge Cloth Has 100s of Uses!

Think a Swedish Sponge Cloth can only be used to wipe up spills? Think again! There are hundreds of uses for a Swedish Sponge Cloth. Our eco-friendly cleaning cloths are not only ultra-absorbent, but they are also durable and versatile. Here are some of our favorite uses:

• Streak-free window cleaning

• Wiping down granite or marble countertops

• Cleaning wood floors

• Polishing stainless steel appliances

• Cleaning dishes and silverware after meals

• Washing bathroom and shower fixtures

• Scrubbing mildew and grime from the tub

• Absorbing household spills

• Washing your car from inside to outside

• Wiping dust-prone surface areas, such as overhead fans, dressers, tables, bookshelves, and more

• Drying off your dog’s coat and paws after a rainy walk

Best of all, a Swedish Dish Cloth packs cleaning power even without household cleaners – for a chemical-free clean, try simply using water and vinegar with your Swedish Sponge Cloth!

Swedish Sponge Cloths Are More Sanitary Than Any Other Kitchen Cloths

Ah, the familiar kitchen sponge – it’s a favorite household staple in kitchens across the globe. It soaks up water, helps scrub dishes, and wipes away spills. But have you ever stopped to think about how sanitary your kitchen sponge is? The answer is: not really.

Because of their absorbency and thick composition, household sponges trap dirt, food debris and moisture. This combination of dampness and debris creates the perfect environment for bacteria to grow. You might be surprised to hear that a kitchen sponge actually carries more active bacteria than any other place in your house (and that includes every nook and cranny in your bathroom).

Unfortunately, kitchen sponges don’t get a chance to dry out fully – and they aren’t easy to wash, either. That means bacteria can multiply unchecked, leading to musty smells and decreased efficiency over time. And once they’ve started to break down, sponges go directly into the garbage and contribute to landfill waste – just like their cleaning counterpart, paper towels.

Swedish Sponge Cloths Can Help Save the Environment

So what’s the big deal about paper towels? They seem harmless enough, but paper towels are problematic for a number of reasons: not only are paper towels designed for one-time use, but they simply aren’t as efficient as Swedish Sponge Cloths. More importantly, paper towels are neither biodegradable nor recyclable, which has a big impact on the environment.

Although paper towels are made in a similar process to cardboard, tissues, and paper, there are two factors that prevent them from being recyclable: the fibers of the pulp and the inability to recycle soiled materials.

Paper towels are made from a compacted pulp composed of water, wood, and cellulose. Once a paper towel has been used, the pulp will break down (creating a mushy, wet mess) – but because they are often soiled with grease or food, used paper towels will contaminate other recycled goods.

Of course, if you are using paper towels to wash away water-based or chemical-free spills, you may be able to compost them. But because paper towels are used for everything from spilled oil to household cleaners, many paper towels become toxic as soon as they are used.

What about unused paper towels? Unfortunately, many local recycling stations are unable to recycle even unused paper towels. The pulp used to create paper towels contains very short fibers, which prevents paper towels from being recycled into new paper. On a global scale, paper towels contribute to tons of non-recyclable waste each year – $12 billion worth, to be exact!

And although paper products make up a relatively small percentage of carbon dioxide emissions, paper towels are still a contributing factor to increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide. Consider also that their production contributes to deforestation, and it’s easy to see why more and more people across the globe are saying goodbye to paper towels for good.
Swedish sponge cloths

Using Swedish Sponge Cloths Can Help You Save Money

How much are you spending on paper towels each week? $5? $10? Paper towels are a household item that you might throw in your shopping cart without thinking about the cost – but over time, the cost of paper towels can add up!

Consider this: across the globe, our collective spending on paper towels came in around $12 billion (that’s right, billion). Out of that figure, U.S. households contributed a whopping $5.7 billion in spending. There’s no denying that when it comes to cleaning up spills, paper towels are king in the states. Nearly half of the worldwide population’s spending on paper towels comes from the U.S. alone!

Here’s another thought: global spending on paper towels is expected to increase by another 4 percent by the end of 2022. And this estimation was created far before the onset of COVID-19, meaning this percentage is likely much higher in actuality. With a renewed emphasis on cleaning and sanitizing (and national shortages of paper products) in 2020 and 2021, our collective paper towel consumption has increased significantly.

Swedish Sponge Cloths Can Replace 17 Paper Towel Rolls!

If you’re buying one-time use paper towels every week (or even every other week), you’re throwing money away. Instead of using paper towels, opt for Swedish Sponge Cloths. Not only are they a more efficient alternative, but they’ll also save you money – 17 paper towel rolls’ worth.

Just two of our cleaning cloths equal a whopping 34 paper towel rolls! (A fact so nice, we wrote it twice.)That’s a big deal, not just for what you can fit in your pantry, but for the health of your budget, the ability to recycle, and for the environment.

See Our Selection of Environmentally Friendly Swedish Sponge Cloths

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