Why should I get rid of my kitchen sponges?

Why should you get rid of your kitchen sponges? What's a safer alternative to using kitchen sponges? Although you can wash sponges in the dishwasher or nuke them in the microwave to kill bacteria, the healthiest idea is simply to get rid of them. A sponge is like the back row in study hall-it attracts all the bad elements. In fact, bacteria grows on sponges, so every time you use one, you have the potential of passing bacteria from sponge to dish to food to mouth to one nasty day in the restroom. Instead of using kitchen sponges, buy 10 cheap dish towels and get two buckets. Put clean towels in a clean bucket. When you need one, use it from that bucket; then toss the used one in the second bucket that contains diluted bleach. That kills anything that tries to grow. Then wash all of them once a week.

The main reason is that they collect bacteria. Warm, moist environments are something that bacteria thrive on. Nothing fits that description better than a sponge. It turns out that the place most likely in the house to harbor harmful bacteria is the kitchen, and sponges are a place for them to survive.