… or How to Eco-Hack Your Swiffer Dry Mop
I admit it, Swiffer Mops, and particularly the disposable nature of the cleaning cloths is not eco-sensitive territory. They have captured a big market though, based on how light and easy they are to use and being seriously good at specific tasks like reducing Pet Fur on many types of floor surfaces. This article considers what they are, what they are good at, and how to use them in a more eco-friendly way.
What Is a Swiffer Sweeper Dry Mop?
A Swiffer Sweeper is a light weight flat pad with a swivel connection to a lightweight metal pole that is the right length to mop floors. The swivel connector is designed so that you can easily dart underneath furniture to clean. I have a metal table where the base is a couple inches from the floor, yet I can quickly sweep under it all the way to the wall without having to lift the mop from the floor surface. Pretty nice feature.
This design makes dry mopping of pet hair and fur really simple. Since you never really need to lift the mop from the floor, you can make overlapping passes of the cleaning area, pushing the pet fur in front of the mop. If I get an inch or so of fur in front of the mop, I just scoop it up and throw it directly in the trash can, then I continue mopping.
Swiffer Sweeper Dry cloth covers are made from polyester and polypropylene. The Manufacturer states “Our Swiffer Dry cloths do feature a trace of a special treatment that helps the cloth hold onto particles. The treatment contains petroleum-based components such as microcrystalline wax and mineral oil”. Yup – not so eco-friendly, but let’s consider our options.
Some people opt for an old fashioned mop, but after a while, it feels like I am just pushing germs around whether it be with an old wet mop or an old fur-infested dust mop. It also takes a lot of water and soap to try to get those reusable mops clean enough to use again.
The big target on my floors is pet hair, and I really like the ease of reducing the fur without a lot of water mess on my hardwood. I also like being able to toss the hair in the trash. So how do I make peace with my eco-conscious leanings and still get the most out of my Swiffer?
This starter set gets you a Swiffer Mop just like the one I've written about in my article. It comes with 14 dry clothes and 5 wet mopping clothes that have the edge attachments (you won't need the mop pad hack to use them).
Alternative Cloths to Use in Your Swiffer Sweeper
Paper Towels
It turns out that it is really easy to just put a paper towel in the Swiffer Sweeper Dry mop.
A full size paper towel fits perfectly. If you buy the half-sized towels like I do, use two of them still connected together. You can put them on the same way as a Swiffer Dry cloth – just poke the edges down in the fastening holes.
Since the paper towel is not coated with anything, they work best if you spray a light coating of water or cleaning product directly on the towel. When I am cleaning hardwood, I will spray on some Bona Hardwood Floor cleaner. When I am cleaning bathrooms floors, I like to use a germ cleaning product in a spray bottle with some water. On my laundry room tile floor, I spray on some Mop & Glo Floor cleaner.
When the towel gets completely dirty and fur infested, I peel it off, fold it up, then wipe the floor with the still clean side of the towel. So I am still disposing the cover, but at least paper towel is readably bio-degradable. In some areas, you may even be able to throw it in the Compost bin (check locally for composting rules).
Shop Towels
I have a bin full of shop towels that are a little larger than a full paper towel.
Shop towels of this size work great with my Swiffer Sweeper! Insert them into the sweeper fastening holes, then wet the surface of the towel just as described above for the paper towels.
When a Shop towel gets to the point where it is dirty, I remove it, fold it up, then I go shake it out in the trash bin. Then I toss the towel in the laundry.
Second-hand Swiffer Sweeper
So in full disclosure mode, I admit that I did not buy my Swiffer Sweeper new. Since I go to lots of thrift store (see my Thrift Store Junkie series) and Estate sales I often see these mops available cheaply. I was a little skeptical of buying a lightweight mop like a Swiffer in the first place, and am not fond of one time use disposable stuff. But I was at an estate sale one day and saw one on offer, with a big box of cloths for a couple bucks, so I decided to try it. I reasoned that if I didn’t like it, I could donate it to a thrift store and it would continue in the path of reuse.
It turned out that the ability to remove dog hair sold me on the efficacy of this mop. The big box of cloths lasted me a couple years. I started keeping my eyes open when secondhand shopping for some more cloths. Mere rationalization, but if I only finished using already opened boxes of mop covers, I wasn’t contributing to market demand. Ya, I did say “rationalize”.
How I “Hacked” my Swiffer Sweeper
So opportunity appeared and I found another half box of mop covers, but this time they happened to be Wet Jet Wood Microfiber pads. They looked about the same size, so I figured they would be fine.
WRONG!
Ok, now what was I going to do with these mop pads that did not have big enough edges to fit in my mop? I looked up the product online and could see that the design was different on the WetJet. The mop flat surface was a similar size, but the pads were held in place by Velcro-like patches. There were 6 of them – and were similar to the hook side of regular Velcro. The mop pads were fuzzy enough to just stick to the bottom with assistance of the Velcro.
So here is what my Swiffer Sweeper dry mop looks like now: I had some Velcro pieces that came with adhesive on the back, so I just stuck 6 of them on my mop. Now I can use either the mop pads or the dry cloths on the same mop.
The WetJet mop has a liquid dispenser, but I was just using my spray bottle with my choice of floor cleaner in any case. Problem solved.
Here is my dry mop holding a WetJet Wood pad after my modification.
These are the WetJet Wood mop pads that I show in my picture. They come 20 to a box. To use them with the Swiffer Sweeper Dry Mop, just follow my instructions.
Recycling Swiffer Sweeper Covers
Even though Swiffer Sweeper covers are not biodegradable, technically they are recyclable. Some of us are lucky enough to live in areas where Hard to Recycle items can be dropped off, reducing the amount of stuff going to the landfill. When that is not an option, there is an organization that gives committed recyclers an option for “power recycling”.
TerraCycle – Provides mail in packaging for specific types of recyclables. Swiffer cloths are specifically one of the items they take. Visit them at the TerraCycle Website for more details.
A quote from their site:
TerraCycle accepts all used Swiffer pads, including Sweeper, WetJet, and Duster. Once collected, the Swiffer pads are cleaned and separated by material type. The materials are recycled into raw formats that manufacturers use to make new products.
Other Uses for Your Swiffer Sweeper
Air Vent Covers
With the long handle and the nifty swivel mop pad, Swiffers are great for wiping dust, hair and other debris from air intake vents. I have a big air intake high on the wall of my dining room where the furnace and central air conditioner pull in air from the house. The steady stream of air going in tends to attract particles, and tiny spiders seem to like it as an area for producing cobwebs. Before I swipe the Swiffer across the floor (while the mop is still clean) is a great time to swipe it across the air vent first!
Speaking of Cobwebs
The long handle and nifty swivel are also great at wiping down cobwebs up near the ceiling or above a light fixture. Spiders seem to love those spots! I don’t even bother to put a cloth in the Swiffer for this task – I just carefully pull down any webs I see and wipe the mop pad with a dry cotton rag.
Arm Extender
My Swiffer is my favorite tool for reaching underneath the bed to retrieve a lost pet toy. Not only is it lightweight, the flat swivel pad is good for snagging the ball or toy towards yourself.
Cleaning Products to Use with your Swiffer Sweeper
Check out other product review articles on this site for the cleaning products mentioned above:
