Had a bit of a wake-up call yesterday when I stumbled across some research about those ubiquitous “magic” cleaning sponges that seem to be in every household these days. Turns out they’re not quite as magical as we’ve been led to believe – they’re actually releasing trillions of microplastic fibres every time we use them.

Now, I’ll be honest, I’ve used these things myself. There’s something undeniably satisfying about watching a stubborn scuff mark disappear from the wall with minimal effort. But like many people, I never really stopped to think about where all that material was going when the sponge gradually wore away. The clue was right there – if it’s getting smaller, it’s going somewhere.