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Discarded soaps bring hope to the disadvantaged

Dubai - The soap recycling campaign called 'Soap For Hope' has been underway for over two years now.

Over 7 million children die every year from diseases that can be prevented simply by washing hands.
On the other hand, each year a typical 400-room hotel generates 3.5 tonnes of solid soap waste.
Interestingly, a sizeable soap recycling campaign called 'Soap For Hope' has been underway for over two years now.
The project, launched in Cambodia in October 2013, has participation of over 50 hotels from the UAE/Middle East, which included the programme as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives.
The programme's objective are: to save lives by promoting a cleaner and healthier environment through proper hand-washing with soap; to provide a means of livelihood for local communities through learning a new skill; and to help hotels reduce waste by recycling used or discarded soap.
But what is a soap recycling campaign?
Partially used soap from hotels goes waste. And the Soap for Hope is about a more sustainable alternative: soap slivers are collected from hotels, cut into cubes, sanitised with Sealed Air bleach solution, pressed into 500gm soap bricks, dried and cut into 60g bars, and distributed among under privileged communities.
Stefan Phang, Director, Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility, Sealed Air, told Khaleej Times in an email that "Till Aug 2015, we have launched Soap For Hope in 19 countries, covering 32 cities. We have no plans to stop the programme, in fact, our plan is to launch Soap For Hope in more countries around the world."
On being asked about the contribution of Dubai and the UAE, Phang said: "The largest hotel chains that are contributing to the programme are the Hilton and AccorHotels groups, with a total of 35 properties in UAE and Egypt."
Were there any hotels in the region that didn't want to participate? "This is a long term, sustainable effort by the hotels. As far as we know, no hotels have said 'no thank you' to us.
"A typical 400-room hotel generates 3.5 metric tonnes of solid soap waste per year," added Phang,
There's a cycle in place of how the soap is remade. First, used soap is collected from hotels. Then Sealed Air transports the used soap to local communities, and teaches local people to re-process soap. This requires a cold-press method but no running water or electricity are needed. Remade soap bars are then distributed to communities that have limited access to basic hygiene amenities.
"Hand-washing with soap is among the most effective and inexpensive ways to prevent diarrheal and respiratory diseases in developing regions. Soap for Hope addresses waste reduction and hygiene enhancement at the same time, while also generating livelihoods for local communities."
Most recently, last month, more than 100 Hilton Worldwide Team Members from across the company's seven hotels in Dubai joined children from Al Garhoud National Charity School to receive training on how to recycle soap, and they produced 200 bars of soap.
Hilton Worldwide's UAE hotels partnered with Diversey to create more than 27,500 new bars of soap since June 2014.
Rudi Jagersbacher, President, Hilton Worldwide Middle East & Africa, said: "We are celebrating our regional success across MEA, where we have helped produce more than 4,00,000 bars of recycled soap!"
nivriti@khaleejtimes.com