Used Soaps Save Millions Of Lives...An Inspirational Idea!

Do you ever wonder what happens to that little bar of soap you use once or twice when you stay at a hotel? Usually it gets thrown away and ends up in a landfill. It probably does not seem significant, but when you consider that there are 4.6 million hotel rooms in the US, you begin to realize the scale of the problem. It has been estimated that between 1 and 1.5 million bars of soap are discarded from hotel rooms every single day in the US. This soap makes a considerable contribution to land fill waste and can be easily put to better use.

Clean the World, a non-profit organization, aims to reduce this number by recycling used soaps and re-distributing new bars to areas where it is in dire need.

The organization has donated more than 25 million bars to over 99 counties worldwide since it was founded 7 years ago by Shawn Seipler. He often traveled for business and wondered what happened to the bar of soap after he left. A quick call to the front desk confirmed that the soap was simply thrown away. Further research showed that millions of soaps were being discarded daily and no recycle program existed to change that.

Meanwhile, a child dies every 15 seconds from a disease that could have easily been prevented with access to proper hygiene, especially soap.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) acute respiratory infections, like pneumonia, and diarrhoeal diseases, like cholera, are among the leading causes of death for children under 5 years of age. Washing one’s hands with soap has been proven to significantly reduce the impact and incidence of these two top killers. It is also the easiest and most cost effective way to prevent diseases and lessen their spread. By providing and delivering free soap to developing areas where there is virtually none, Clean the World aims to improve and save countless lives.

They have partnered with Global Soap, an organization that shares their vision, and in combination now collect used soap from over 4,000 hotels.

Clean the World began working with Las Vegas Sands in 2011 and has collaborative relationships with some of the biggest names in the hospitality industry, including Caesars Entertainment, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, Hyatt Hotels, InterContinental Hotels Group, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, Marriott International, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, and Walt Disney World Resorts.

You can help too by getting involved, running a community soap drive, donating money, and even by simply spreading the word. The next time you stay in a hotel ask if they participate and have knowledge of the program. If anything you can help raise awareness and possibly spur the hotel into donating thousands of used soaps down the line.

Unicef has recently dubbed handwashing with soap as "one of the cheapest, most effective vaccines" against viral diseases.

It is really sad to realize that your waste is someone else's salvation!

Credits: Associated Press

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