How to Clean a Plastic Cutting Board

I had this old plastic cutting board that has gone through who-knows-what trauma and was filthy. However, it wasn’t the kind of dirt that actually comes off. No amount of scrubbing or chemical combinations I found suggested on Pinterest even made a dent in the stained ickiness that had become of this cutting board.

Repin it to save for later!

(and set everyone straight!)

An Pinterest search for how to clean a cutting board turns up all kinds of ideas, from salt and vinegar, or baking soda and vinegar, lemon, Comet scrub and a Brillo pad, hydrogen peroxide. All of the idea claim to work wonders. Well, I tried them all, and they did nothing for my sorry plastic board.

I found one site with tips to clean a wooden cutting board who lamented that cleaning a plastic cutting board was easy, just throw it in the dishwasher. Well, my stubborn stained plastic cutting board must be extra rebellious because several runs through the dishwasher did absolutely nothing.  I even tried scrubbing by hand with dishwashing detergent (Cascade) to no avail.

Another site seemed to take the problem MUCH more seriously (like, to a militant level!) suggesting that you refresh an old plastic cutting board by sanding it. If your board has deep cuts and gouges in it, I could see that being a good idea – maybe once or twice. Mine was just stained. So, removing layers or thickness seemed extreme. I mean, how many times could a person do that before it’s nothing but a flimsy, flexible cutting board. lol

In summary:  

To effectively clean your plastic cutting board, use…

• 1/2 – 1 cup bleach
• 1-3 gallons of water
• soak plastic cutting board for 3-4 hours
• rinse sink and plastic cutting board well after draining bleach water