ORLANDO, FLA.—Since its inception in 2009, Clean the World’s impact has been staggering with 18 million pounds of soap and 10 million pounds of plastic collected from its more than 8,000 hospitality partners worldwide. A total of 28.6 million pounds of waste has been diverted from landfills and 88.5 million bars of reprocessed soap have been distributed to those in need. With the assistance of its hospitality partners, soap bars and amenity bottles are collected for processing in one of Clean the World’s five global locations.
This year alone, 200,000 new hotel rooms will be added to the mix of lodging establishments that collect and send their partially used soap bars and amenity bottles. From a global health standpoint, Clean the World says it has helped decrease the death rate in children under five by 60 percent in areas where it has soap donation programs. Having soap to wash with helps stop the spread of illnesses such as pneumonia and diarrhea. A total of 127 countries have benefitted from Clean the World donations. The soap and amenity program costs hotel owners from $.75 to a dollar per room per month.
Led by founder and CEO Shawn Seipler, Clean the World has evolved into three parts: Clean the World, Clean the World Events, and The WASH Foundation.
The Success of Clean the World Events
While Clean the World focuses on the reprocessing and recycling of soap and amenities, Clean the World Events organizes groups of volunteers who come together to assemble hygiene and comfort kits, backpacks and more. So far, 6.4 million kits and backpacks have been distributed. Also, as part of Clean the World Events, Purposeful Pantry team-building activities provide an engaging way for companies, clubs, and any organizations to meet their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) goals, improve teamwork, boost morale, and create a renewed focus on the community.
The easy-to implement Purposeful Pantry Experience allows teams to work together and assemble much needed food supplies into pantry boxes. After assembly, these pantry boxes can be donated to local food banks, community centers, hunger relief efforts, or any other community initiatives.
This year, more than 1,000 events have been held. The events help with employee retention. Seipler expects Clean the World Events business to double the size of Clean the World business by next year. “Our events business is going through the roof,” Seipler says.
Companies such as Microsoft and Amazon participate in Clean the World Events activities.
The WASH Foundation
A global NGO, The WASH Foundation’s purpose is to transform the lives of people in need and improve their health by donating soap and hygiene kits to them. These are distributed to women, children and communities around the world to promote access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). Today, more than 2.3 billion people lack access to basic sanitation. To date, more children die from WASH-related causes than malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis combined. The WASH Foundation has served more than 16,800,000 people in over 127 countries.
Since 2017, The WASH Foundation’s Fresh Start WASH & Wellness mobile shower program has been providing mobile showers and bathroom facilities to those experiencing homelessness. In Las Vegas, Orlando and Tulare, Calif., Clean the World has trailers where those who are homeless can take showers. Typically, the trailers are paired with other service providers—drug rehab, job placement and temporary housing, for example. Seipler says the trailer and other community services have resulted in a decrease in homelessness. “The municipalities, the funders, see the results,” he says.
Responsible Plastics Management
Creating a circular system for plastics recycling is a current focus of Clean the World. Amenity bottles and jugs are currently either recycled, shredded or ground up for use in other plastic products—plastic lumber, for example, or even new amenity containers. Some of the containers sent to Clean the World are forwarded to waste-to-energy facilities. Liquids from the amenity bottles are converted into products such as laundry detergent. While the soap recycling process is third party audited, Clean the World has achieved Responsible Plastic Management status for its plastic recycling.
“We could go fully circular, especially in Europe,” Seipler says. “The idea is to potentially do that in the U.S. and potentially Mexico as well.”
During the pandemic, Clean the World shrank to 14 employees. At that time the organization relied on volunteers creating hygiene kits at home. Today, Clean the World has 100 employees in seven offices: Orlando, Las Vegas, Montreal, England, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, and Dominican Republic. Volunteers can still do remote events at home.
Clean the World’s Soap Museum
At its Orlando headquarters, visitors can not only volunteer and learn about the current work of Clean the World. They can also tour a soap museum where they can learn about the history of soap and Clean the World’s early efforts to repurpose partially used soap.
Clean the World makes it easy for hotels to measure their positive environmental impact. Clean the World’s Customer Portal offers a unique opportunity for hotels to engage in socially responsible programs that deliver direct impact, including soap distribution, hygiene education, emergency response, hygiene packaging events, and waste diversion. The Customer Portal provides real-time updates on a hotel’s Impact dashboard. As soon as Clean the World receives a full box, its team scans the box and uploads the impact totals to the portal.
Clearly, Clean the World has had a global impact on the recycling of soap and amenities. According to the 2024 Green Lodging Trends Report, hotels donating leftover usable bathroom amenities (e.g. bars of soap, individual shampoos, etc.) is a common practice globally with 83.1 percent of all hotels donating leftover usable bathroom amenities. Limited-Service hotels (87.7 percent) outperform Full-Service hotels (75.7 percent) in donating leftover bathroom amenities.
Glenn Hasek can be reached at greenlodgingnews@gmail.com.
