Cotton buds, also known as cotton swabs or q-tips, are small sticks with a piece of cotton on one or both ends. Cotton bud sticks are often made of plastic, but more companies have started the switch to paper, wood or even bamboo handles to be more eco-friendly and recyclable. The bud is most commonly made of cotton wool, but there are other variants too, such as foam. Our range of cotton buds have been sourced from leading brands such as Chemtronics, Electrolube, GC Electronics, Ideal-Tek, Jelt, and RS PRO.

What are cotton buds used for?

Cotton buds are most commonly known as hygiene or beauty products, used in the home for removing or applying make up, fixing nail polish or applying treatment creams. However, they are also popular across many industrial environments for maintenance purposes, such as cleaning hard to reach places or cleaning around delicate components, as their small size makes them the perfect tool for delicate cleaning. They can be used dry or with a wet cleaning solution, making them truly versatile cleaning tools for any industry. Buds are single-use products that easily remove unwanted material safely and prevent cross-contamination.

Typical cotton bud applications

• General-purpose cleaning
• Clean excess adhesives after gluing
• Flux removal
• Computer hardware cleaning
• Clean magnetic and optical heads
• Introducing contaminants to agar plates in biological and pharmaceutical testing

Cotton buds can be found in almost any industry given their ease of use and functionality, but are most commonly found in hospitals and medical centres, electronic servicing and maintenance, chemical and biological laboratories, and maintenance engineering.