What can I reuse or recycle to make dishcloths or pot scrubbers?

We’re having a cleaning-themed week here on Recycle This – yesterday, we talked about reusing or recycling bleach bottles but today I’d like to think about making and have a question for you guys:

what have you reused or recycled to make reusable dishcloths or pot scrubbers?

A lot of people knit or crochet dishcloths or tawashi scrubbers from either new cotton or reclaimed stuff – but there are also how-tos for making them out of plarn (plastic bags turned into yarn) for a more abrasive dishcloth/scrubber.

Less involved, onion nets can be very quickly made into scrubbers – just followed in on themselves to make a ball/scrubber shape.

What have you used to make them? Any pattern suggestions?

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6 Responses to “What can I reuse or recycle to make dishcloths or pot scrubbers?”


  1. Bertie says:

    Look for a sheet metal factory nearby – the metal pan scourers that you can buy in supermarkets are just bundles of swarf.

  2. I created pot holders from old scrap material. I am sure that you could make a scrubber from something similar. If you use jeans instead of normal material you would have a pretty tough surface.

    It seems like you could also use jeans on one side and a tshirt like fabric on the other and dont have a center layer

    http://feliciafollum.blogspot.com/2011/02/upcycled-pot-holders.html

    Good luck and if you find something that works well you should comment on my blog.

  3. When I go camping, we make pot-scrubbers out of fallen twigs. No reason why we can’t use it in the kitchen. Just pick up fallen twigs and split an ‘X’ in one end. Peel the 4 sections of the ‘x’ back so that it opens up, exposing the rough fibres in the centre of the twig. Dab it in biodegradable washing up liquid or soap and scrub the pots and pans by rubbing the opened-up surface of the twig against the pot surface while holding the other, intact, end of the twig. When your twig is all worn out, throw it out on the compost pit, and use another. One twig can last me at least 2-3 days in the kitchen.

  4. dcpw says:

    The plastic net bags that you buy fruit in at the supermarket.

    Collect a few of them, put them all inside one (not too packed as you need to be able to rinse it out) and knot it.

    You can get several uses out of them.

  5. Uluska says:

    I use yard to knit dishcloths. Very sturdy.

  6. Uluska says:

    Yarn, I use yarn.



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