WISCONSIN DELLS, WIS.—You may not make it to Africa this year, but your soaps may. Home to America’s largest indoor waterparks, the authentically African-themed Kalahari Resorts and Convention Center has partnered with Orlando, Fla.-based social enterprise Clean the World to collect and recycle hotel soaps and shampoos to help fight the global spread of preventable diseases.
The soaps collected by Kalahari Resorts in Wisconsin Dells, Wis. and Sandusky, Ohio will be shipped to Clean the World for recycling and distribution to communities and countries in greatest need through the efforts of the Clean the World Foundation. Clean the World is the largest global recycler of hotel amenities. In less than three years of operation the charitable and philanthropic Clean the World Foundation has distributed nearly 10 million bars of soap to children and families in the United States, Haiti and more than 45 additional countries worldwide.
The Kalahari Resorts have a combined total of 1,646 rooms, and are projected to provide 88,937 bars of soap and 187,063 bottled amenities to Clean the World annually. The amount is enough to provide hygiene supplies and comfort for 17,792 children for a full year.
Each day 9,000 children around the world die from diseases such as acute respiratory illness and diarrheal diseases that can be prevented by washing with bar soap. Clean the World has a mission to put soap in the hands of people who need it most to improve hygiene and sanitation conditions.
Giving to Families in Need
“As a family run company we are always looking for ways to help support the surrounding communities, whether it’s a new high school football field, band instruments or raising money for charitable causes like Andy North and Friends,” said Travis Nelson, Kalahari Resorts spokesman. “That is why we are happy to announce our new partnership with Clean the World, which will allow us to extend our reach and give back to families in need around the globe.”
Since the first Kalahari Resort opened in 2000, the company has worked to implement several eco-friendly practices both large and small. One example is the use of the resort’s massive fans in the waterparks to push warm air, which has naturally risen to the ceiling, down to the floor, significantly reducing heating costs. The Wisconsin Dells property has also invested in an AquaRecycle system that recycles 70 percent of laundry water, a savings of 26 million gallons of water annually.
Clean the World has partnered with more than 1,200 hotel properties in North America to provide soaps and bottled amenities to people in need. While doing so, the organization has also fulfilled a valuable environmental mission by diverting an estimated 1.2 million pounds (600 tons) of hotel waste from polluting landfills in the United States and Canada.
“Our hotel partners are the driving forces behind our global hygiene revolution,” says Shawn Seipler, CEO at Clean the World. “By making a commitment to sustainable, socially responsible programs in the hospitality industry, partners such as Kalahari Resorts are using their abundant resources of soaps and bottled amenities to help save lives.”
Go to Kalahari and Clean the World.