Looking After Your Natural Sea Sponge

As well as creating engineered foam products, an important branch of our business reaches out across Europe to the Mediterranean. It’s not to another facility or the foam engineering department of a sister company, but to the rich, deep waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

Natural sponges are technically animals, but they have no organs, nervous system, circulatory system or digestive system. They are made of porous cells that allow water to move freely through their bodies, which is how they take in food, regulate their body temperature and remove waste from their bodies.

Natural sponge species and sub-species include things you will have already seen in your bathroom – the soft wool baby sponge, the loofah and the honeycomb sponge. Each enjoys its own unique properties that make it perfect for applications like skin exfoliation, gentle cleansing, ultra-sensitive skin, etc.

Harvesting Natural Sponge Foam

We believe in ethical harvesting, which means we only use local divers and always leave the root of the sponge intact so it can re-grow healthily. But here’s an interesting fact – it’s not only humans who harvest sea sponges. In 1997, marine biologists in Western Australia noticed some curious behaviour only found in Shark Bay dolphin groups. Female dolphins will harvest a single sea sponge and hold it over its beak as it digs for food on the sea bed. It’s assumed the dolphin is using the soft natural sponge for protection.

Dos and Don’ts of Taking Care of Your Sea Sponge (and Other Natural Products)

Your natural sponge isn’t engineered by our experts, but it is exceptionally long-lasting when treated properly.

• DO rinse your natural sponge under clean water after every use and gently squeeze excess water out.
• DO use a towel to absorb excess water – never twist or wring the sponge.
• DO dry your sponge away from direct heat, preferably on a drying wrack or in an airing cupboard.
• DO cleanse your sponge by leaving it to soak in a solution of 1tbsp baking soda per cup of warm water.
• DON’T soak the sponge in chemicals – it will damage the natural integrity of the sponge.
• DON’T put your sponge in the washing machine.

Although natural sponges are very resilient, especially to abrasion, it’s essential to treat your sponge delicately if you want to maximise its life in your bathroom. And the same goes for most other natural beauty tools. Always use gentle cleansing methods, allow products to dry gently and naturally, and handle with care at all times.

If you’d like to learn more about our ethical harvesting methods and what’s involved in sponge import in the UK, our retail sales director, David Hart, is the UK’s leading expert on all things sea sponge! David is really passionate about how we manage our sponge trade in the UK, and is very proud of all the steps we take to ensure our business remains ethical and beneficial to both local Mediterranean communities and the brilliant little sponges themselves!

Now you might think it is a bit odd to be talking about how to stay clean and healthy on an UK foam company blog, but the fact is that the health and cleaning markets form a large part of our business. That is because foam sponges are ideal for all types of cleaning. Sponges can be manufactured for a number of different cleaning uses. From a natural bath time sponge to a heavy duty car cleaning sponge, every household can do with at least a few of them.  Here are a few different ways in which sponges can be utilised as household goods.

First of all, everybody will have encountered a bath sponge at some point in their life. Hopefully, you don’t need anyone to explain why it is important to stay clean and healthy! If you don’t clean regularly, bad bacteria can build up on your body, which in turn can lead to catching harmful viruses and health complications. We don’t just make artificial chemical based foam, we are also the largest importer and distributor of natural sea sponges in the United Kingdom. The chances are that if you have recently bought a natural sponge from a British supermarket, we will have supplied it. We work with some of the biggest names in the business including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrison’s, and Mothercare.

A natural sponge is particularly recommended for parents who have to bathe young children. The soft absorbent material is extremely gentle against the skin as it softly brushes away any built up dirt or grime. Honeycomb sponges are incredibly popular, and in our humble opinion one of the best sponges that money can buy. However, there are also other types of natural sponge, including ones made out of grass and wool. These are great for bathing because of their extremely resilient texture and levels of absorbency. Any ladies looking for facial and cosmetic appliers should consider buying silk sponges which have a wonderfully smooth surface. And what type of bathroom can be considered complete if it isn’t home to a traditional Loofer?!

Using natural products to soothe and cleanse your skin is a fantastic way of ensuring that your body doesn’t have any allergic reactions to chemical components. However, that is not to say that manufactured sponges are harmful to humans. Indeed, we pride ourselves on our top quality standards when it comes to health and safety. All our new products are tested under the most stringent and toughest conditions to ensure that they are 100% perfect when they hit the market.

We also manufacture sponges which are meant for more industrial purposes such as cleaning cars. Our in house engineers can program machines to cut foam to any size and shape which means there is total flexibility over any new designs. Car sponges are made out of tough absorbent material which can carry a lot of water. There is no doubt about it. No matter what needs cleaning, sponges are certainly the best method to use!

Everybody has to start somewhere. For us it was more than two decades ago, but for many of our smaller clients that beginning is in the present. We believe that supporting small business and one-time project clients is an important part of the Technical Foam Services agenda. After all, once upon a time, our very first client took a chance on us too.

Advice
Don’t know your rigid foams from your natural sponge? Not sure what grade is best? We offer a beginning to end service that includes comprehensive, understandable advice from our expert engineers. They can help with everything from product development to the basics of natural sponge transportation. Typical areas covered on most small-scale projects include raw material choice, souring raw materials, the best manufacturing process, logistics, care and developing your product for the relevant market (e.g. packaging) We know every penny counts when you’re starting out, so our advice is completely free.

Confidentiality
Here at Technical Foam Services we operate within a broad spectrum of industries where confidentiality and discretion are not only advised but expected to the highest degree. We offer a standard confidentiality agreement to all clients; the agreement is comprehensive and accepted by both our small business single-project clients and global long-term contract clients alike.
If you’re looking for a first rate engineered foam supplier to partner your small or one-time project, print out the confidentiality agreement on our “Got a Bright Idea?” webpage and get in touch with one of our agents.

Although many of our clients hail from industry and the science arena, our engineers are frequently called upon to produce top quality sporting products and equipment. Here are just some of the diverse sporting applications our engineers have worked to with complete perfection.

Neoprene
For the beach fans amongst you, most will recognise neoprene as being the material wetsuits are made from. Neoprene is very flexible, temperature tolerant, highly resistant to environmental damage (e.g. scraping your knees across a sharp sandy seabed), long-lasting, easy to care for and UV resistant. But we don’t just manufacture neoprene wetsuits; our engineered foam and rubber experts have researched innovative new uses for neoprene, including as protective sports footwear inserts.

Protective Foams
It’s not just extreme sports equipment that can benefit from our expertise. Our engineers are top minds in their respective fields, and have enjoyed collaborations in the sports arena designing and producing an amazing range of protective garments and devices. Example projects include creating lightweight, compact helmet linings for professional cyclists, concealed impact protection elbow/shin pads for skateboarders, limb protection for hockey players and compact protective apparel for horse riders.

Polyethylene
A highly adaptable engineered foam, polyethylene is habitually used in the sports world. We count engineered yoga mats, flotation equipment and custom contact sport protective apparel on our successful project roster.

Our industry is one that evolves in new directions continuously. Our engineers involve themselves heavily in cutting edge research to bring all our clients the best possible solutions.

All foam manufactures understand the need for precision production and product specification. Whether we’re creating a custom neoprene project or bulk producing chipfoam for transport packaging, our top quality promise and expert engineers mean we always generate great results.
Lots of our clients need highly specific products from our engineers, and one of the most interesting sectors is, in our opinion, the application of science. Plastazote is a common type of foam that’s been proven to be safe, stable and non-reactive when in contact with delicate materials like museum exhibits or natural history artefacts (e.g. insect specimens)
So, why Plastazote? Plastazote and its sibling expanded foams (Supazote and Evazote) are unique in that they’re the only materials of their type expanded using nitrogen gas. The resultant expanded foam is chemically inert, making it ideal in situations where even the tiniest reaction could irreparably damage an artefact or specimen. Plastazote and related foams are so successful because of the partnership between their qualities of chemical immobility and excellent physical attributes (e.g. long-lasting, supportive etc)
We currently count highly varied precision projects under the wings of our engineers, commonly in the sectors of scientific research and investigation, precision technology, sensitive transport of valuable devices, and various exhibitions and events (e.g. travelling art shows, museum tours etc)
Our Plastazote products tend to be highly tailored and are not always available for prospective client viewing due to confidentiality agreements; however, for more information or advice from one of our engineers, get in touch today.

In 2009 the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) launched the “Make the Promise” safety campaign aimed at reducing the number of Health & Safety breaches and accidents in the agricultural sector. Around fifty farmers and agricultural workers are killed each year because of badly implemented or completely lacking Health & Safety measures. A key area of interest to the HSE was equipment maintenance and reliability. For example, how often should farmers in cold areas of the UK check cable insulation on seasonally-used machinery? Should tractor seats be refurbished regularly to prevent back pain?
Foam rubber like EPDM is vital to the safety of agricultural workers. Commonly used on vehicles, EPDM offers excellent weatherproofing qualities and can be designed to air-tight specifications, to several flexibilities and to withstand a wide spectrum of temperatures.
Making equipment safe and easier to use is a key element of foam rubber in the agricultural sector. Materials like neoprene can be used to make protective handles and apparel.
Memory foam also finds its place in the farming community. Noted for extreme comfort and support, memory foam cushions and supports can be designed by our engineers to fit practically any type of seat or leaning area. A simple example is tractor seats; we can craft a memory foam seating cushion and back support (either separately or as a single unit) to more efficiently support the body and reduce the chance of back pain and discomfort associated with long days atop the wheels of an eternally bumpy tractor.

Those living with mobility impairment often extol the virtues of memory foam in their daily lives. Lots of our clients are mobility assistance device designers, but many are private clients after custom memory foam projects to fit their particular needs. We believe in putting the same expert professional skill into every project, whether that means mass production of a memory foam wheelchair head support or a one-time private project to produce personally adapted memory foam inserts for a particular client.
The primary quality that makes visco memory foams so attractive in the world of therapeutic support and mobility assistance is their outstanding long-lasting performance as a supportive material. Designed by NASA to evenly distribute the force of a space shuttle launch over an astronaut’s body, memory foam is ideal in the cases of those suffering paralysis, those seeking pain relief through support and those with particular supportive needs (e.g. wheelchair users)
As one of the UK’s leading foam suppliers, we take great pride in the work we do for the mobility challenged and clients in poor health. Feedback shows memory foam mattresses in particular have helped alleviate some of the more painful symptoms associated with arthritis, chronic back pain, healing bones and the frustrating general aches and pains associated with age.
To learn about our visco memory foam products either for yourself or for your company, get in touch with one of our agents today and we’ll offer our expert advice free of charge.

Although many of us are disgruntled when faced with cleaning jobs, it’s an inevitable part of life. We use our technical knowledge, and links to all the latest product developments, to manufacture and supply a wide variety of cleaning sponges, to make your lives easier.

We use synthetic foam in some of our sponges, such as sponge pore foam. This type of foam is known for its softness, and is ideal for gentle cleansing. There are various grades of sponge available to suit different tasks, and a vast range of colours. You may also be looking for a novelty bath sponge, and we can deliver. We can shape sponge pore foam in to everything from a whale to a pineapple, thanks to our in-house engineers and their nifty custom tooling.

Cellulose sponges are also very popular, and useful for household cleaning. Their super absorbency means you can use them for many intense cleaning tasks. We can advertise your brands on them as well. This type of sponge isn’t really suitable for bathing, so we’re covering all our bases and offering a range of natural sponges too.

These natural sponge products are soft to the skin, and are becoming ever popular thanks to their durability, mould and bacteria inhibitors, and the fact that they are chemical free. They’re also harvested responsibly, which adds to their environmental credentials. To find out more about our responsible trading policy, natural products, or other high quality sponges, please browse the website or get in touch.

Bath sponges are a constant addition to almost every bathroom.  They are something we use every day without thinking about it.  But simple bath sponges can improve and enhance our bathing experiences, helping revive us before a long day or relax us in the evening.  The right sponge can even improve the look and feel of your skin.  These basic, everyday accessories can improve the aesthetic appeal of your bathroom, as well as offering a number of useful features while you are bathing.

A natural sponge or loofah is one of the most common additions to a stylish bathroom.  As well as bringing the beauty of nature into the bathroom, they are also incredibly good for your skin.  Loofahs have excellent natural exfoliating properties, making your skin feel much smoother and look more revived after you’ve used them.  Natural sponges, produced by foam manufacturers, are capable of holding a huge amount of bath or shower gel, making your skin feel incredibly moisturising.  Modern loofahs and natural sponges are generally improved to make them much more pleasant to use in the bath or shower and much kinder to the skin.

The latest bath sponges have soap, gel or moisturiser within them right out of the packet.  They are incredibly convenient, with the gel inside them being released as soon as you put the sponge under water.  As the product within the sponge emerges, it gradually works into a moisturising later, removing the need for bottles of bath and shower gel.  They are particularly useful for people who travel a lot or want to keep clutter in their bathroom to a minimum.

Every day, foam manufacturers produce thousands of tonnes of cellulose sponge. We use these sponges for a variety of applications around the home, but give little thought to where they come from. What we consider to be a mundane, everyday tool actually has an interesting and intricate production process. Here’s how cellulose sponges are made.

Sponge foam begins with exactly the same building blocks that plants are made from – cellulose. The cellulose that sponge foam is made from is extracted from wood pulp and manufactured into huge cellulose sheets. These sheets are delivered to the foam manufacturers, who soak them in a mixture of chemicals and water. This mixture softens the sheets. Once soft, the cellulose is transferred to a mixer with a combination of hemp fibres, sodium sulphate crystals and colouring agent. The ingredients are then thoroughly mixed together.

These ingredients are then poured into large rectangular moulds which are ‘baked’ to create an enormous wedge of sponge foam. As the sponge mixture bakes, the sodium sulphate crystals melt. The draining away of the sodium sulphate crystals creates the characteristic ‘holes’ in the sponge foam. The size of the holes can be varied by using different sizes of sodium sulphate crystals, for example bath sponges will require larger holes than packaging sponges.

Once the sponges are removed from the moulds, they are thoroughly washed in bleach to soften them. They are then cut to size in an automatic cutting machine, and finished with a scouring pad if necessary.