Cutting corners on your sponge: simple trick to curb germ havoc in your home

A dish sponge is notorious for being unhygienic. Despite efforts to lengthen its usability by disinfecting, scalding, or microwaving, the sponge still holds a reservoir of potentially dangerous germs.

Dish sponges are enveloped in an astounding array of bacteria and microbes. "There is probably no other place on Earth with this many microorganisms," says Dr. Markus Egert from Furtwangen University in the Black Forest, quoted in the magazine "Focus". His research shows that a single kitchen sponge can harbor up to 82 billion bacteria and 362 types of microbes, bearing a worrying similarity to human feces. Sponges' warm and moist environment offers an ideal breeding ground for bacteria.

A crucial question concerns when to replace your sponge. Most scientists agree that you should dispose of an old sponge after a week at the latest. If the sponge has been in contact with raw meat or eggs, be sure to disinfect it to prevent the transmission of hazardous microorganisms.

More often than not, our sponges carry out duties beyond dishwashing. We regularly use them for cleaning the kitchen or bathroom with chemical cleaners, even for cleaning shoes. Unfortunately, this mistake of using a single sponge for multiple tasks can occur accidentally, especially when we have identical sponges around the house which are easy to mix up.

Here's an uncomplicated trick to prevent this: Simply cut off a corner of your sponge. This way, you can demarcate its use. For instance, a sponge with one cut corner could be for bathroom cleaning, and two cut corners could designate it for shoe cleaning. Meanwhile, the kitchen sponge stays intact and is only positioned by the sink.