Clean the World

Clean the World is an organization that recycles hotel soap and hotel amenities. It is also the first "benefit corporation," or "B" corporation established in Orlando, Florida.[2]

Clean the World
Formation2010
TypeBenefit corporation
HeadquartersOrlando, Florida, United States
Founder
Shawn Siepler[1]
Key people
Shawn Siepler (CEO)
Website

About

Clean the World collects discarded soap and shampoo from the hospitality industry and other sectors that generate environmental waste and recycles it for redistribution.[3] Once the bars and bottles of soap have been collected from hotels and shipped into the warehouse, they are then sanitized and re-packaged for distribution.[4][5] Clean the World partners with the Global Soap Project,[6] as well as more than 5000 hospitality partners and 500 event partners throughout North America.[7] Since 2009, Clean the World has distributed more than 45 million bars of soap to children and families in 127 countries worldwide, while diverting 16 million pounds of hotel waste from North American landfills.[8]

History

Shawn Seipler and Paul Till started Clean the World in 2009.[9] Seipler started the company after learning that the barely used complimentary soap in his Minneapolis hotel room would be thrown away.[10]

Seipler and Till started their company in Orlando, Florida [11] and used meat-grinders and other kitchen utensils to cook the soap into clean bars.[11] The first soap donor was the Holiday Inn at the Orlando International Airport.[12] Within three years, the home business became an "international charity that...distributed 9.5 million bars of recycled soap in 45 countries."[13] In 2011, Laguna Beach became the first city in the United States to have all hotels participate in Clean the World.[14]

Clean the World has helped redirect 250 tons of soap from going into Nevada landfills as of 2014.[15] They expanded operations to Asia that same year.[16] It now has plants in Orlando, Las Vegas, Hong Kong, India, and Montreal.[17] By 2015, they were distributing soap in 99 different countries.[18] Since 2009 the company has distributed over 40 million bars of soap.[3]

The Hilton hotel chain announced in March 2019 that they would, in conjunction with Clean the World, be collecting used bars of soap from the guest rooms across their hotels to recycle them and create 1 million new bars of soap by Global Handwashing Day on October 15.[19]

References
  1. Skoloff, Brian (10 April 2015). "How Used Hotel Soap Could 'Clean the World'". Inc. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  2. Brinkman, Paul (15 July 2014). "Clean the World Becomes Florida 'B' Corporation". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  3. Toropin, Konstantin (10 April 2017). "The afterlife of hotel soap". CNN.
  4. "M&R Hotel Management Joins Clean the World Effort to Recycle Soap". Hospitality Net. 26 February 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  5. Martin, Hugo (17 August 2014). "Recycled Hotel Soap is Turned Into 20 Million Soap Bars for Needy". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  6. Thornton, Lisa (5 November 2015). "Project Recycles Soap to Save Lives". The Charlotte Observer. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  7. "Recycling Used Bars of Soap to Save Lives". Associated Press. 10 April 2015. Retrieved 11 July 2018.
  8. Beauchamp, Sandie (10 July 2018). "Clean the World Brings Its Hospitality Recycling Program". Clean the World. Retrieved 11 July 2018.
  9. Parris, Denise; McInnis-Bowers, Cecilia (1 June 2014). "Social Entrepreneurship Questioning the Status Quo: Waste as a Resource". Journal of Economic Issues. 48 (2): 359–366. doi:10.2753/JEI0021-3624480209. S2CID 6528760.
  10. O'Connor, Stefani (7 September 2017). "Clean the World's Shawn Seipler: A man with a mission". Hotel Business. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  11. "Group Hopes Recycled Soap Helps Save Lives". WJXT News Jacksonville. 12 April 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  12. O'Connor, Stephani (7 September 2017). "Clean the World's Shawn Seipler: A Man with a Mission". hotel business. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  13. Ferraro, Gary; Andreatta, Susan (2014). Cultural Anthropology: An Applied Perspective. Cengage Learning. p. 207. ISBN 9781285738499.
  14. "Laguna Beach Hotels to Recycle All Soaps -- A First in U.S." Los Angeles Times. 6 November 2011. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  15. "Nonprofit Offers Recycled Soap Made in Las Vegas". Las Vegas Review-Journal. 15 June 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  16. Springer, Kate (1 May 2017). "The Company Cleaning up the World's biggest hotels". CNN. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  17. Meltzer, Matt (28 March 2017). "Your Used Bar of Hotel Soap has Surprising Afterlife". Thrillist Travel. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  18. Jones, Jay (18 April 2015). "Soap Recycling Program Aims for a Cleaner, Healthier Future". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  19. Business, Jordan Valinsky, CNN. "Hilton is recycling used bars of hotel soap to save the planet". CNN. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
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