Clorox Triple Action Dust Wipes alternative

Disposable cleaning products like disinfecting wipes and toilet wands are popular and convenient, but one price for that convenience is waste: Those single-use cleaning wipes and Swiffer dusters and stainless steel polishing wipes have to go somewhere after they’ve been single-used, and that somewhere is the trash.

While most studies focus on the environmental costs of personal wipes, parallels can be drawn to our overall growing dependence on disposable cleaning products: They contain microplastics that are not biodegradable, they’re not safe for our sewer systems, and their use can contribute to the rise of superbugs.

Disposable cleaning products are, perhaps, right for you, your household or your budget. But maybe you’re bothered by the waste. You may feel that throwaway products don’t clean as well as a sturdier alternative might. Or maybe you suspect you’re overpaying for cleaning supplies and would rather reduce that budget and put the money into your avocado toast habit.

Whatever your reason, here are some alternatives, with pros and cons for all, to those popular single-use cleaning products.

Ditch disposable disinfecting wipes for quality cleaner

Premoistened disinfecting wipes are 1. more expensive per use than a roll of paper towels and a bottle of all-purpose cleaner; 2. oversaturated with cleaning fluid; 3. packaged so they don’t ever seem to thread correctly through their dispenser; 4. wildly popular.

You’ll get a better clean for less money with a paper towel and all-purpose cleaner like Puracy Natural Multi-Purpose Cleaner, Wirecutter’s pick for best all-purpose cleaner. A common misconception is that disinfecting wipes contain bleach, which they don’t, so you aren’t gaining cleaning power by using wipes instead of a commercial spray, or a D.I.Y. solution of diluted white vinegar or diluted dish soap. Would you like to be incredibly virtuous? Switch from paper towels to reusable paper towels, which, as described in Apartment Therapy’s I Tried It-style essay, have drawbacks of their own.

A good vacuum is a better investment than disposable sweepers

Swiffer Sweepers are, perhaps, the most polarizing item in the disposable cleaning product world. People really, really love their Swiffers! But the replacement pads are expensive and wasteful. You must touch the dirty pad, post-use, to remove it from its base and deposit it in the trash. They don’t clean as well as a vacuum.

If the Swiffer meets your needs, by all means hang onto it. But also consider the fact that lightweight, cordless vacuums — which don’t take up a lot of storage space and which are just as easy to use as pushing a Swiffer around — can be had for under $100 (Wirecutter’s budget stick vacuum pick, the Dirt Devil Reach Max Multi Cordless Stick, costs exactly $100). If you’re a person who uses a Swiffer with both wet and dry pads, consider an all-in-one vacuum and mop like the Bissell Symphony, which retails for under $200.

Stainless steel cleaning wipes are entirely unnecessary

You know what cleans streaks and fingerprints and splatters off stainless steel in a jiffy? A plain old microfiber cloth. Simply buff away blemishes using the cloth and a bit of elbow grease, and for very stubborn marks try putting a few drops of cooking oil onto that cloth and rubbing it into the stainless, working with the “grain” of the steel.

Cost savings is where microfiber, excuse the pun, really shines over its single-use counterparts. A canister of 30 disposable stainless steel cleaning wipes costs $7.99; a package of three microfiber cloths — which can be used wet or dry for loads of jobs beyond just polishing stainless steel, and can be machine washed and used over and over again — costs about $4.

Drop disposable dusters for washable dusting cloths

Treated dusting cloths perform the same function as their disposable counterparts: Compare the product description for Clorox Dust Wipes, “The interlocking weave traps and locks onto dust, hair and allergens so debris is getting picked up instead of pushed around,” with that of Guardsman Dusting Cloths, “Specially treated, residue-free cloths trap and lock-in dust, unlike paper towels or other rags that just push around dust or even leave fibers behind.” The difference between them, however, becomes stark when you compare the cost of disposable dusters with that of a reusable dusting cloth: A pack of disposable dusting cloths costs $10.99, compared with $6.49 for a set of reusable ones.

Some disposable dusters, such as those exceedingly popular Swiffer Dusters, do work quite well, perhaps better than their reusable counterpart, a feather duster made of ostrich feathers, which will capture dust until it is shaken out. But each Swiffer Duster session will run you a little over a dollar just in replacement costs and will rob you of the joy of cosplaying as Yvette from “Clue.”

When it comes to toilet wands, go old school

Toilet wands, which consist of a plastic handle with a gripper mechanism to which a disposable cleaning pad is attached, take the place of a toilet brush and a multiuse bathroom cleaner. But the old way of using a toilet brush and a multiuse bathroom cleaner takes no more time and cleans no less effectively. The wand also won’t replace that multiuse bathroom cleaner since it’s not designed for use on the toilet seat, tank or flusher. And the wands are expensive: Toilet wand starter kits cost $12 to $15, but a quality toilet brush is $12 to $16 and doesn’t require the purchase of pricey replacement pads, which cost a whopping 50 cents per use.

Then there is the matter of the design of the disposable product, which tricks users into thinking the disposable pad is safe to flush. It is not.