Why are people putting toilet paper in the fridge?

Social media is an amazing thing. It lets us communicate with people all over the globe, spreading idealistic goals, offering support and encouraging each other to put toilet paper in our refrigerators. That’s right. Recently, people on social media are advising you to replace that box of baking soda in the back of your fridge with a roll of toilet paper. Does this weird trick work?

Ruiz Asri, editor of Honest Food Talks, says toilet paper’s absorbency is behind this hack. “Moisture in the refrigerator often contributes to mildew and unpleasant odour,” Asri says. The toilet paper absorbs excess moisture, along with foul smells, Asri says.

References to toilet paper in the fridge can be found as far back as 2015. But the dedicated use of it as an odour absorber seems to be more recent, primarily in the last year or so, with videos appearing on TikTok and Facebook.

Yes – to a point. While TP will absorb odours, other options are more efficient, take up less space and generate fewer odd looks from houseguests.

We spoke to one person who’s tried the TP technique. Amy, from the eponymously named parenting blog Amy & Rose, had some fishy smells in the fridge, and her daughter suggested that she try the toilet paper hack. So did it work?

“In my experience, somewhat,” she says. But here’s the catch: It’s just a temporary fix.

There are, of course, alternative fridge odour busters. So if you want something longer lasting that takes up less space, here are some alternate odour-fighting strategies.

Baking soda is the go-to solution that caught on in the 1970s, when manufacturer Arm & Hammer promoted it as an environmentally friendly alternative to chemical cleaning.

Baking soda is a base material, which means it neutralises acids. Because most odours are acidic, it can cut off the smell at the source. (Side note: After deodorising a fridge with baking soda, don’t use the contents of that box for baking. Cooking can reactivate those acids and contaminate your cake.)

As the baking soda interacts with more acids, it becomes less effective. Most people will need to replace it every three months.

Corinne Segura, a building biologist practitioner and founder of My Chemical-Free House, has first-hand experience with fridge odours.

“When food went bad in my fridge, it left a lingering foul odour,” she says. “I used black cumin seed oil, which has a deodorising effect, to clean up the smell.”

Segura credits this to the essential oil’s ability to deodorise methyl mercaptan, a chemical that produces a rotten scent.

“I mixed five drops of black cumin essential oil with 1 tablespoon of dish soap and applied it in a thick layer to all the plastic components inside the fridge,” she says. “I let it sit for two hours before washing it off. This worked well to get rid of foul odours in the fridge.”

Activated charcoal captures the particles that cause bad smells, just like toilet paper. It’s available as a powder, in pre-cut filters or as fabric you can cut to size.

It functions by collecting the volatile compounds given off by smelly items, reducing odour. Swap out the charcoal every month or so to keep it effective.

For those who prefer a more pleasant scent, especially around their food, Asri offers a particularly sweet recommendation. “Soak a cotton ball in vanilla extract and place it in the refrigerator,” he says. “This combats bad odours and leaves your fridge smelling like a bakery.”

If you want a deep-clean on your fridge or freezer at minimal expense, go with one paper product that’s even cheaper than toilet paper. Fill up a particularly stinky fridge with crushed charcoal and crumpled newspaper (you can buy unprinted newsprint paper).

You’ll need to replace the newspaper every day for about a week, but it’s a low-cost way to deal with a foul-smelling situation.

Take that, toilet paper.

Next, try these excellent ways on banishing bad smells from other parts of your home.

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Source: rd.com