Soap, Cleaning the World and Saving Lives

Introduction

Clean the World Foundation Inc. is a nonprofit charitable organization that is committed to reducing the waste created by discarded soap and shampoo products while preventing deaths caused by hygiene-related illnesses around the world today.

Main Item

The organization was founded in February of 2009 by Paul Till and Shawn Seipler and is based out of Orlando, Florida. Clean the World has a 2-part mission:

• To collect and recycle soap and shampoo products that are discarded by the hospitality industry
• Through distribution of these and additional donated hygiene products to people living in poverty, prevent the millions of deaths caused by hygiene-related illnesses

Clean the World implements its mission through the collection, sorting and processing of discarded soap, shampoo, conditioner and lotion products donated from participating hospitality partners. The organization collects donated hygiene products from manufacturers, recycles the product donations at its facilities in Orlando, and delivers the recycled products donations. Clean the World delivers products to domestic homeless shelters and impoverished countries that experience high death rates due to acute respiratory infection and diarrheal disease.

From its start, Clean the World has been steadily increasing its services and operations to accommodate quickly growing community needs, awareness and donations and has accepted in-kind donations of more than $2,000,000. The organization has placed more than 11 million bars of soap and 325,000 pounds of shampoo and conditioner back into human use, at the same time eliminating greater than 750 tons of waste.

Continued below image.

Continued...

How Clean the World Accomplishes its Mission

Clean the World accomplishes its mission by collecting, recycling and distributing discarded soaps, shampoos, conditioners, lotions and gels from participating hospitality partners. The organization recycles guest room hygiene items at its Recycling Operations Center and distributes them for humanitarian purposes with nonprofit partner organizations. The items are distributed both domestically and to children and families in communities around the world.

Hand washing soap significantly reduces the impact of 2 fatal diseases - diarrheal disease and acute respiratory infection. These 2 diseases are the top killers of children under the age of 5. The diseases also represent an opportunity for recycled hygiene products to become the main ingredient in Clean the World's global hygiene revolution. On top of this incredible effort, the organization has eliminated tons of hotel waste from polluting landfills.

Hotel Partners and Soap Safety

Hotels join Clean the World's Hotel Partnership program; in exchange they receive the full marketing benefits the program provides to help publicize amenity recycling efforts. The organization provides hospitality partners with bins for housekeeping staff to place collected soap and other hygiene products into. The bins are picked up on a weekly basis by Clean the World staff members or logistics partners and are taken to the closest Recycling Operations Center.

The soap is tested by TriTech Laboratories, which is a Florida state-certified testing facility. TriTech infects soap to run through the standard Clean the World recycling process, checking to see what happens. As a result of the cleansing process, the soap receives a 100% clean bill of health. All pathogens, to include:

• Escherichia coli
• Staphylococcus aureus
• Listeria monocytogenes
• Pseudomonas aerogenes
• Salmonella typhymurium

Are removed successfully from the soaps through a patent-pending process. Clean the World collects its products from hotel partners and individual soap drives in every state in America, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and 10 Canadian provinces. The organization has recycling operations centers in Orlando, Toronto and Las Vegas. Clean the World has more than 1,600 hospitality partners across North America. The organization's partners include Walt Disney World Resorts, Caesars Entertainment, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, IHG, Joie de Vivre Hotels, Best Western International, as well as select Hyatt and Hilton branded properties.

Clean the World partners with non-governmental organizations such as Harvest Time International, World Vision and Children International. These organizations help to distribute the donations domestically and internationally. The recycling work is performed by more than 30 full-time employees, volunteers, team-building and CSR Activity groups.

Serve and Learn: Clean the World's New Learning Program

Clean the World invites you to join them in their new service-learning program the, 'Clean the World Serve & Learn,' program. The program is sponsored by TD Bank and aims at teaching students about global sustainability and civic responsibility. Clean the World has one main objective as an organization: to save lives through distribution of clean soap to people around the world.

The organization believes it is time to teach students about the initiative and empower them to become good stewards of the community and the planet. The Clean the World Serve & Learn program packet, available through the organization's website, provides people with all of the tools and information they need to help students discover and learn about the positive effects of recycling and appropriate sanitation on both local and global levels. The organization provides people with a starter packet and an extensive curriculum, ideas on how to integrate Clean the World concepts of recycling, videos and disease prevention information.

Partnership with Geoteaming GeoClean

CSR Team Building involves teams building hygiene kits from re-purposed soap and shampoo that is donated to local homeless people. GeoClean is a CSR team building event where teams compete to build hygiene kits with the highest accuracy in the quickest amount of time. The kits contain 9 life-saving items including soap, shampoo, conditioner and lotion that have been re-purposed from hotels around the world. The teams also get to learn what the kits mean to the local community as they are donated to local homeless charity.

People who participate learn a valuable 6-step system that can increase accuracy while improving team performance by 10-30%. Teams will be inspired by their work and what these kits truly mean to the local community. Team members are inspired, knowing they have made a difference with GeoClean. The goals of GeoClean teams include:

• Learning a 6-step method to improve accuracy and team performance
• See how planning, rapid decision making and execution lead to a higher-performing team
• Build team bonds that will increase the, 'pick up the phone,' factor for future collaboration
• Receive inspiration by hearing from a local nonprofit about the impact the hygiene kits will have

The work can be done in any indoor or outdoor facility. One of the benefits of GeoClean work is that it facilitates learning by helping teams realize the lessons and how it applies at work. Another benefit is high-tech instant scoring, which allows the organization to announce team results and awards moments after a build is complete. Team members also benefit from a digital slide-show that ends the event with music to highlight the day.

People who work for Clean the World and GeoClean feel valued and rewarded after participating in high-energy, morale-building events. Teams refine their skills in group decision making, create a winning strategy and work within established deadlines. Most of all - team members know their efforts will help a local nonprofit organization.

Page Information, Citing and Disclaimer

Disabled World is a comprehensive online resource that provides information and news related to disabilities, assistive technologies, and accessibility issues. Founded in 2004 our website covers a wide range of topics, including disability rights, healthcare, education, employment, and independent living, with the goal of supporting the disability community and their families.

Cite This Page (APA): Langtree, I. C. (2014, October 2 - Last revised: 2020, December 15). Soap, Cleaning the World and Saving Lives. Disabled World. Retrieved December 13, 2024 from www.disabled-world.com/disability/foundations/saving-soap.php

Permalink: <a href="https://www.disabled-world.com/disability/foundations/saving-soap.php">Soap, Cleaning the World and Saving Lives</a>: Clean the World Foundation is committed to reducing waste from discarded soap products and preventing deaths from hygiene-related illnesses.

While we strive to provide accurate and up-to-date information, it's important to note that our content is for general informational purposes only. We always recommend consulting qualified healthcare professionals for personalized medical advice. Any 3rd party offering or advertising does not constitute an endorsement.