The sponge on the head of my mop has crumbled into pieces and I don’t like my chances of finding a replacement made from compostable material. Besides that, I’m not interested in buying anything new or secondhand. My zero waste journey involves consuming as few virgin resources as possible, which means I use items I already have to meet my needs (remember the Buyerachy of Needs). I might be a bit ‘different’ but I get a huge thrill out of repurposing items that might otherwise have become waste. So, I thought about what I had that could replace the sponge on my mop. I came up with these three quick and easy ideas. Each can be washed and reused, and at the end of it’s life, composted if made from a natural material like cotton. I’m really happy with the results!
Old sock
You can’t get easier than using an old Explorer sock. I cut it to size lengthwise, then cut a slit in one side to insert the mop. You don’t have to, but I also stitched the end and turned it inside out.
Old tshirt or bed sheet
Make some tshirt yarn or cut strips from a cotton bed sheet and stretch the lengths of material so that it curls into yarn. Plait the yarn and then stitch it together in a size suitable for your mop. Stitch some lengths of yarn through the plaited pad to secure it to the mop.
Scrap yarn
I have a small basket of leftover yarn from some toys and blankets I knitted for my babies, so I used some of this to quickly knit a slip on pad. If you want a pattern or if your skills are more advanced, check out some of these covers.
Gippsland Unwrapped 
I love the explorer sock method, we have a few of these hanging around, no longer in use – now they have a new life!
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Great post, I had been looking for a DIY reusable mop head, hadn’t thought of these options- I kept coming across old towels as mop heads
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Mmmm, started me thinking here!
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While you can use many materials as a mop, , besides what the material may absorb they pretty just much spread dirt around. Thus I think the best way is to mop liberally and then use a good squeegee to move the water to a central point and then mop it up with absorbent material. And then go over the floor again. Anyway that is how this bachelor does it.
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