A washing-up sponge might seem insignificant, but this is the result of a decade long search, including many false starts with expensive green products that were frankly ridiculous, e.g. a sponge with bits of crushed nutshell glued on top. Washing-up is a chore, so the tools have got to do the job and the tool was always the sponge with the scratchy green top layer, billions of which infest landfills across the western world.
The bona-fide, does-the-job, totally sustainable replacement: a cellulose sponge cloth that is marked “compostable” (not tested by EcoCounts!) and a scratchy oblong matting of hairy coconut shell husk (totally natural and seriously scratchy). The only drawback – it costs £2.75 from wholefood stores, a bit of a rip-off considering it’s made from a waste product.