Hilton recycling soap to help developing countries

Partnership to reduce waste and prevent disease

Hilton Worldwide has announced a partnership with the Global Soap Project, a non-profit organisation that recovers and recycles soap from hotels that would otherwise end up in landfills. The Global Soap Project sorts, reprocesses and remoulds used soap into new bars and distributes them to vulnerable populations in developing countries that are at risk of sanitation and hygiene-related disease. In its first year of the partnership, Hilton Worldwide expects this investment to result in the donation of more than one million new 110 g bars of soap to people in need.

“At Hilton Worldwide, we are constantly measuring, analysing and working to improve our sustainability performance,” said Christopher Corpuel, Vice President, Sustainability, Hilton Worldwide. “We are proud to invest in the Global Soap Project and are excited to leverage our expertise to support their organisation, while simultaneously solving critical social needs.”

In addition to donating soap, Hilton Worldwide is investing $1.3 million over the next three years and providing its operational expertise to help expand the Global Soap Project’s processing capabilities. By leveraging Hilton Worldwide’s global supply chain and understanding of the hospitality industry, the partners will work to explore a social enterprise model and develop a global system that can handle the high volumes of soap generated by the sector, at zero cost to hotel properties. Hilton Worldwide will also assume a seat on the Global Soap Project’s Board of Directors and participate in the development of the organisation’s strategy and growth.

Support from Hilton Worldwide’s team members will be critical to the partnership’s success, and the company is excited to provide properties with simple, tangible ways to improve sustainability performance and make a difference in the world. In 2010, more than 1,300 Hilton Worldwide properties donated in-kind products through the company’s proprietary sustainability measurement system, LightStay, and the company expects this amount to increase as soap donation opportunities are made available to hotels worldwide. With more than 600,000 team members in 85 countries, the partnership will also directly benefit some of the communities where Hilton Worldwide team members and their families live and work.

Handwashing with soap is among the most effective and inexpensive ways to prevent diarrhoeal diseases and pneumonia, which together are responsible for more than 3.5 million child deaths each year. In contrast to North America, where more than two million partially used bars of soap are discarded at hotels every day, a lack of soap can be a barrier to handwashing at schools, community health clinics and refugee camps in developing countries, which rarely have soap or appropriate handwashing facilities.

“When living as a refugee in Kenya, I realised soap was hard to come by, even completely nonexistent sometimes. Even when available, those living on less than a dollar a day had to choose between buying food or soap. People were suffering from illness simply because they couldn’t wash their hands,” said Derreck Kayongo, founder of the Global Soap Project and one of the 10 finalists for the 2011 CNN Hero of the Year. “The Global Soap Project is thrilled to work with Hilton Worldwide to co-create a global, scalable model that will empower hotel properties to support vulnerable populations.”

Since its inception in 2009, the Global Soap Project has distributed more than 25 tons of soap to vulnerable communities in twenty countries on four continents. By leveraging each organisation’s strengths and focusing on creating value for the company, the environment and communities, Hilton Worldwide and the Global Soap Project expect to improve the lives of thousands of people in need.