Clean the World Saves Lives with Recycled Soap

A non-profit group called Clean the World is sending slightly used bars of soap overseas to save lives in developing countries.

When you stay overnight at a swanky hotel, you might take home those little bottles of rosemary-mint scented shampoo and conditioner. But those tiny bars of soap? Chances are, you’ll wash your hands with them once or twice, then leave them there for the cleaners to throw away.

For most people in the U.S., hotel soap is a disposable product. If you throw it out, there’ll always be a new paper-wrapped bar in your bathroom by the next morning. It’s barely worth thinking about.

Meanwhile, just a short plane ride away in Haiti, a bar of soap can mean the difference between life or death. Thousands of people die each year from diseases like diarrhea, which are often brought on by poor sanitation. Bars of soap can be purchased for $1 each, which may not be much by our standards—but considering that the average Haitian makes only $2 a day, it’s a hefty price to pay for cleanliness.

But a non-profit group called Clean the World is working to bring the two worlds together by collecting slightly used hotel soaps and shampoos and distributing them for free to people in Haiti and other developing countries, as well as area homeless shelters.

Two years ago, the group’s founders, Shawn Seipler and Paul Till, were salesmen making six figures, and did a lot of traveling. One day, they began to wonder what happened to all of the leftover soap at their hotels. When they realized that there were 4.6 million hotels in the U.S., “we started doing the math and figured that’s a lot of soap that’s being tossed out,” Seipler told CBS News.

After months of building partnerships with hotels and local charities, Seipler and Till officially launched Clean the World in March 2009. So far, more than 100 hotels in their native Florida have jumped on board with the program, and businesses in other states are beginning to follow suit. A local men’s recovery center, Central Care Mission, is responsible for cleaning and sterilizing all of the soap bars. Then, the group gives the recycled soap bars to various charities, church groups, and government agencies to be distributed where they are most needed.

Seipler and Till have already distributed 60,000 bars of soap through their organization, but they have much bigger plans in mind. They’re working to expand their program to hotels throughout the United States, and are in the process of creating collection bins for the general public in large chain stores all over the country. They also welcome private donations of soap, shampoo, and other bath products, along with financial contributions—visit their website to learn more about how you can help.

While Clean the World has an environmental basis, it’s about much more than being green. “Yes, it’s about recycling,” Seipler said. “It’s about preventing landfill waste … but it’s also about taking those items … and handing them to people who are dying because they don’t have soap.”