Everyday in America, thousands of hotels discard millions of pounds of soap and shampoo. These products often end up in already overflowing landfills and contaminate fragile groundwater systems.
Impoverished people around the world die every day from acute respiratory infection and diarrheal disease because they have no soap. The death toll is staggering. Each year more than five million lives are lost to these diseases with the majority of deaths being among children less than five years old. Studies have shown that simple hand washing substantially reduces the spread of these diseases. Unfortunately, the essential items for proper hand washing are unobtainable for millions of people worldwide. ( from the Clean The World website.)
There is a non-profit organization that takes these two, separate statements and connects them to offer a solution to a global problem. Clean the World Inc. is a non-profit, charitable organization that recycles leftover soaps and shampoos and then puts them in the hands of people who need them here in the United States and across the world.
The process is simple. Soaps delivered to their Soap Processing Plant are either Rebatched or Sterilized and repackaged into 2 ounce bars of soap. Although CTW does their own safety testing, the soap process has been independently evaluated to prove that the sterilization process removes known dangerous pathogens. Clean The World offers the lodging industry a way to make a lasting difference in people’s lives by using a product we discard daily, but the benefit does not stop there. CTW employes men who are part of a long term residential treatment program, Central Care Mission, in their recycling plant in Orlando, FL. By providing jobs they are assisting men as they walk through recovery and helping the homeless step off the streets and receive meaningful work. CTW is committed to a long term partnership with Central Care Mission, so as Clean The World grows they are able to expand their influence in the lives of these men in the Orlando area.
When I read about this program, I immediately thought of all of the innkeepers and guests who want to not only be “green” but also want to make a difference to people around the world. As an innkeeper I would have gained much satisfaction from thinking that all those soaps and shampoos I tossed everyday were actually being used to change peoples lives!
To learn more about this organization and to be inspired by them, follow this link to their website. http://cleantheworld.org/
