” INSTRUCTIONS: Dip in water before use” (pretty funny, huh?!)
Made From Natural Vegetable Cellulose. Product of France. A pack contains 12 thick natural sponges squished completely flat. They blow up in water in two seconds and watching them pop up is like magic!
When I first saw these and looked at the price I immediately thought “wow that’s expensive”. A pack is $7.99. However I then “did the math” on them. Since there are 12., the cost of a sponge works out to about 67 cents each, right? A sponge may last a month. I thought if a sponge lasts a month (or hopefully, even more) the pack contains about a year’s supply or more, in which case they don’t seem quite as expensive over the long run. I decided to buy them and guess what? They turn out to be FANTASTIC sponges. They are high quality “natural” sponges. These blow up from a thin little sliver to a big sponge an inch thick almost magically the instant you put them in water. The sponge make tons of bubbles and quick work of dirty dishes. My wife thanked me for finally buying good sponges (as opposed to my dollar store ones) and made me promise to buy them again, hopefully in a year we think. End result is these are actually quite worth the 8 bucks (but really 67 cents each) and are a decent value for this quality. BTW every other week, I give a sponge a rinse in very diluted bleach (1:10) and soap. I squeeze it over and over and sponge gets a almost brand new refresh (the filthy water is shocking even when your sponge seems clean). Be sure to rinse it really really thoroughly after this with lots of water to get out all the bleach if you want it to last.
https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/001911
When you’re ready to use, soak one in water and watch it pop up before your very eyes into a Sponge about 4 inches wide, three inches long, and an inch high!
Trader Joe’s Rants & Raves (mostly raves, a few rants) 
Nov 11, 2021 @ 20:07:37
I have been a regular user of these Trader Joe french sponges but the last package the sponges have only lasted a week at the most. Today my sponge started falling apart after only two days. This is just for washing dishes no strong detergents. Did I just get a bad batch or is this going to be the quality going on?
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Aug 13, 2022 @ 22:33:07
Are these sponges 100% compostable? If yes, why doesn’t the packaging demonstrate a certified standard logo for biodegradable/compostable? For more than decade, I’ve enjoyed purchasing these TJoes sponges and *thinking OK* to compost after its useful life. Now, I’m skeptical if the label claim of ‘Made from Natural Vegetable Cellulose” identifies just a partial percentage ingredient mixed with non-compostable ingredients. The label is totally vague and doesn’t list the entire components in this sponge.
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