PHOENIX—With a healthy number of hotel properties worldwide, Best Western International has pledged to leverage its respected brand to protect the planet and help improve global health and hygiene. Best Western International has partnered with Clean the World on an agreement to recycle all guestroom soaps, shampoos, conditioners, body washes, and lotions to help stop the spread of fatal, yet preventable, diseases in communities around the world.
The Phoenix-based hotel chain has the potential to add more than 2,100 hotel properties in North America to Clean the World’s growing list of more than 1,300 hospitality partners that are participating in amenities recycling. The Best Western properties represent more than 175,000 hotel rooms.
The alliance between Clean the World and Best Western International was facilitated by a mutual partner, Marietta Corp., which supplies amenities to many Best Western properties. Marietta Corporation has made significant donations of hygiene-related products to Clean the World during the past three years, including soap shipments for Haiti before and after the January 2010 earthquake that devastated much of that island nation.
Best Western and Clean the World also have strong ties with World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization serving children and families in more than 100 countries. World Vision serves as Clean the World’s largest global distribution partner for soaps and hygiene-related items, and acts as Best Western’s official charity partner.
‘Endorsed Supplier’ Status
With this agreement Clean the World becomes an “Endorsed Supplier” for Best Western International properties, which should pave the way for large numbers of those properties to adopt the soap recycling program at the local level. The partnership becomes effective April 1.
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 and to lessen the impact of disease and promote better hygiene and living conditions worldwide.
Clean the World is an Orlando-based social enterprise committed to saving lives with soap by collecting, recycling and distributing hotel guestroom amenities to children and families in the United States, Canada, and more than 45 countries. Additionally, Clean the World has helped divert more than 1.4 million pounds of hotel waste from local landfills through its sustainability efforts.
“We were impressed by the mission of Clean the World to save lives with soap and to protect the planet by diverting hotel waste,” says Rich Bennett, vice president of supply and design at Best Western International. “Clean the World’s goals are compatible with our corporate emphasis on sustainability and social responsibility, and we hope our guests will feel better about themselves for choosing to stay at a Best Western property that has the potential to improve health and hygiene habits around the world.”
Explosive Growth Over Three Years
Clean the World recently achieved a major milestone with the global distribution of more than 10 million soap bars in just three years of operation. Earlier this month Clean the World, through a network of global distribution partners, delivered soaps to Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, and Kenya in addition to frequent domestic distributions to children and families at homeless shelters, women’s shelters, and missions. The soaps are often packaged as part of sustainable hygiene kits, which include recycled bottled amenities and other hygiene-related items collected from Clean the World hotel partners throughout North America.
“Clean the World was founded with the mission of recycling soap and saving lives,” says Shawn Seipler, CEO and co-founder at Clean the World. “We started in a small Orlando kitchen just three years ago and have grown exponentially to collect, recycle and distribute 10 million soap bars to communities in more than 45 countries. The entire experience has been phenomenal, and we welcome the partnership of Best Western International to spread our sustainability message far and wide.”
Go to Clean the World and Best Western International.
