Vinegar and baking soda will kill mold in your cooler.

Yes, you can clean mold from a cooler without bleach or harsh chemicals.

White vinegar kills most mold species. Baking soda scrubs without scratching plastic. That’s all you need.

Here’s the process: Empty the cooler. Wipe out loose debris. Spray or pour undiluted white vinegar over the moldy areas. Let it sit for 10–15 minutes. Scrub with a baking soda paste (3 parts baking soda to 1 part water) using a soft brush or sponge. Rinse thoroughly with hot water. Dry completely before storing.

If the mold is deep in cracks or the cooler smells musty afterward, repeat the vinegar soak and leave the lid open in the sun for a few hours. Sunlight is a natural disinfectant.

One catch: If the cooler has porous surfaces (like a soft liner or cracked plastic), mold may have penetrated deeper. In that case, you might need a stronger approach, but for standard hard-sided coolers, vinegar and baking soda work fine.

Just don’t mix bleach with vinegar—that makes toxic chlorine gas. Stick with one method.