The scenario:
You’ve been happily using your reusable silicone lunchbox or cup for a while, you’ve really been happy about getting on this sustainable lifestyle thing – and then, plot twist! They have started becoming sticky, so you’ve stopped using them, and you haven’t mentioned to anyone about it because you raved about these silicone products before…
Don’t worry! There is a way out of this. You don’t even need to buy any specialty products to solve this problem. Read on to find out how to clean your silicone products.
Why does your silicone products become sticky?
Silicone is a great material for making reusable products to replace single-use items. It’s light, it’s bendable and it’s safe for food use (learn more about silicone as material for containing food here). Some of my favourite silicone-made products include the Stojo cup and the Stasher bag. But silicone surfaces can get sticky!
Sticky film build up on silicone or rubberized surfaces can occur when grease or oils are allowed to cling on the silicone surface. This can leave a sticky residue feeling to the touch, even after washing with soap.
You’ve got to get rid of this. Because #1 it’s gross, and #2 bacteria might build up. The process is truly simple – you just need water, and baking soda.
How to clean your sticky silicone products
You need:
- Water
- baking soda
- Spatula or tablespoon
You can find baking soda in the supermarket in both the baking section and the cleaning section. I find that in my supermarket, the baking soda in the cleaning section is a lot more expensive than the one from the baking section if you calculate it by weight. In that case, I got the one from the baking section. I would suggest that it is fine to use the one from the baking section for cleaning, but I would caution against using the one from the cleaning section for cooking!
Directions:
1. Put a lot of baking soda in a dish and just a little splash of water in it. Mix it up.
2. Make sure it’s the consistency of toothpaste or really thick frosting. You will know it’s thick enough when you spread it on a side of a silicone item (ie. a lunchbox or cup), and the mix doesn’t slide down. It should feel like wet cement on a wall.
3. Pick up your sticky silicone item, and then spread the baking soda on it like peanut butter on toast, or frosting on cake. Be generous. You can use a butter knife, arm of a spoon, spatula – whatever you can use to spread frosting, you can spread your baking soda mix.
4. Put your baking soda-clad items on a rack and wait till they have dried. It will take around an hour – this depends on the humidity of the place you’re at. You can even leave this to dry overnight.
5. Rinse off the baking soda mix with some warm water.
6. Pat items dry with cloth.
Your items should be stick-free by now!
How does baking soda really work?
Aside from baking — baking soda has been used as a cleaning agent for centuries. Back in 3500 BCE, the Ancient Egyptians used it as a cleaning agent and to dry out bodies for the process of mummification. So, we can say baking soda is pretty multipurpose.
Baking soda is basically sodium hyrdogen carbonate, a type of alkali salt, which means it does a great job of dissolving grease. And because it’s mild, it destroys grease without destroying your hands or the surfaces you’re cleaning. It’s also all natural!
A big part of choosing sustainable reusable products for me is that they have got to be easy to use and easy to clean – something I could keep for a long time. So now that you know how to clean your sticky silicone items, I hope you will keep using your silicone products for a long time!
Top Silicone Products for the Kitchen
While we’re at this, here is a curation of top silicone products to make your kitchen life easier, more convenient, and more sustainable.