How many old sponges do you have just laying around your sink or under your cabinet? Mine seem to disappear like socks to miraculously show up somewhere else. So instead of two sponges, I have twenty. You know me. I can’t seem to throw out anything and I would rather re-purpose or recycle. During my spring cleaning I found 25 old sponges including ones with Brillo pads throughout the house. They weren’t in great condition so I started to think how can I reuse them.
As I mentioned above, most of my sponges have Brillo pads on the back so many of the suggestions I saw wouldn’t work. Would you let your kids use them for outside water play? Not me.
Suggestions like using them to protect your walls from furniture, on bike petals, or to protect your hands when working with tools just didn’t seem to apply to my hard as heck feeling sponges. In my opinion, those re-use suggestions are for more pliable sponges who haven’t reached their shriveled up state.
So, let’s get down and dirty here. We are talking about re-purposing or reusing those hard, dried-up- prune looking sponges.
A tall order. Simply pitch them, Anna.
Whoa. Hold on and heed a few of my suggestions before doing the dunk in the trash can move.
8 Ways to Reuse Sponges
#1 Use as a Stencil for Painting Projects
My first inclination was to advise you to use the sponges for faux painting walls but generally sea sponges are used for this technique. Ordinary sponges can be used for children projects. Simply stencil the pattern you want onto the sponge and cut it out.
#2 Use for Face Paint
Cut up your sponges in small sections to apply face paint on kids. Be sure to use eco-friendly face paints.
#2 Quench Thirsty Plants
I have four large tropical potted hibiscus that sit on my porch in the summer. As you can imagine, they get quite thirsty. I could plant a couple sponges a couple inches in the dirt to hold the water so it would slowly drip down to my plants roots.
Alternatively, when you pot small plants, you could insert a sponge at the bottom of the pot. Simply cut it to fit the inside of the pot. This is a great idea for many of us who forget to regularly water our indoor plants.
#3 Use as Packing Materials or to Protect Valuables
If you are sending something through the mail, instead of reaching for bubble wrap or Styrofoam chips, cut up your old sponges instead. You can use the same scenario when packing a valuable item for storage.
#4 Accelerate Ant Removal
Use old sponges to attract ants. Add sugar to the sponge and put it near where the ants were seen. Ants will be attracted to the sponge. Then take the sponge and put it in water to kill the ants.
Better yet sprinkle cornmeal around the sponge so they take it back to their nest. Cornmeal will kill them since they can’t digest it. Eventually, they will starve to death.
Want to kill fire ants? Using instant grits and sugar along with a certain size sponge accelerates fire ant destruction. Read here for the formula.
#5 Use as a Bottle or Glass Cleaner
How many of you are smoothie lovers and can’t stand cleaning the blender or your tall glasses? Read here on how to create your own bottle, bender, or tall glass cleaner.
#6 Stop Soap Scum in its Place.
Don’t have a soap holder in your bathroom? Use an old sponge to keep your counters soap free and to extend the life of your soap.
#7 Remove Lint or Fur.
Do your clothes proudly state you own a dog? Use an old damp sponge to remove lint and fur from your clothes and furniture.
#8 Sop up Water in an Umbrella Stand
Put a few sponges in the bottom of your umbrella stand to sop up any water left over from your umbrellas.
What will I do with my sponges? The art teacher at the local elementary school wants them for art projects. I washed them in the washing machine to make sure they don’t smell.
For more sponge reuse ideas, read here.
Join the Conversation:
How do you use reuse or re-purpose your sponges?
karen says
March 18, 2014 at 1:23 pmThese are great ideas!! I knit my dishrags so I only go through maybe 2 rags a year but when I used to use these types, I’d go through them one every three weeks! These are great repurpose ideas!
Kristina (The Greening Of Westford) says
March 18, 2014 at 1:52 pmOK, so I think I’m pretty good at reusing, but I have never thought about old sponges. #2 (the second paragraphs) and #7 spoke DIRECTLY to me. Thanks Anna!
Anna@Green Talk says
March 18, 2014 at 3:11 pmI am honored Kristina, since you are my recycling hero! Anna
Betsy (Eco-novice) says
March 19, 2014 at 3:17 pmI tend to use up my sponges until they are in shreds, but I do believe some of these ideas would still work!
Anna@Green Talk says
March 20, 2014 at 10:59 amBetsy, mine are pretty gone too. Let me know what works for you. Anna
Lu lyon says
August 22, 2014 at 1:33 pmI generally use sponges only for bathtub cleanup, so I don’t go through them too fast. My husband is a mason and uses the old ones wiping up extra mortar on slate, tile, rock, etc.
They’re generally useful for washing outdoor stuff–cars, patio furniture, etc. Using them in the soil of a potted plant sounds like a great idea, but I’ve heard that sponges can harbor a lot of bacteria, so maybe they’re not ideal for kids’ face painting.
Jason Bulatao says
January 28, 2018 at 10:30 amHi there! I love the suggestions here. I was wondering if the sponges you meant for us to recycle are cellulose or the, um, less eco-friendly variety. Unfortunately that’s what we have a lot of here.
Also, should there be two #2s? There are actually 9 ways you suggested there, right? Or am I counting wrong? 🙂
Thanks for these! I’ll be sure to try them out for my plants, particularly putting them under the soil at the bottom of my containers.
Anna says
February 3, 2018 at 2:19 amJason, it is the less eco friendly type. Good catch. I should rename it as 9 ways to reuse your sponges!