Apr 27, 2022 23:00:00

How is the hotel's used soap recycled?

When choosing accommodations such as hotels and inns, many people are concerned about the quality of amenity goods such as soap, shampoo, and toothpaste sets. The question of how the most commonly used 'soap' of these amenities is treated is explained by technology news media The Hustle, focusing on companies working on the soap recycling issue.

The surprising afterlife of used hotel soap

https://thehustle.co/the-surprising-afterlife-of-used-hotel-soap/

According to a 2019 survey by the Department of Hospitality Management at Boston University in Massachusetts, the most used amenity for guests is soap. In a questionnaire survey of short-term guests of 1 to 2 days, 'Which amenities did you use?', 86% of the subjects answered 'soap', and the second and lower were TV (84%). , Closet (81%), Desk (70%), Hair dryer (61%), Coffee maker (44%), Safe (43%), Iron (41%).

While

many accommodation facilities are particular about amenities in response to people who are concerned about amenities, these amenities have the problem of being thrown away even though there are still a lot of them left. Even in the United States alone, it is estimated that amenities such as solid soap that are discarded in a year amount to 440 billion pounds (about 200 million tons).

Sean Cypler has been working on the recycling of amenity soap, which continues to be discarded in large quantities, since 2008. Mr. Cypler, who was a director of a technology company at the time, continued to stay at a hotel on a business trip for 150 days a year, but at one point he wondered how the hotel handles soap that users did not use up. He said he embraced. When asked to the front desk of the hotel where he was staying, Mr. Cypler's answer was, 'All soap is discarded.'

Deciding to get rid of this problem, Cypler returned to Orlando, Florida, touring the accommodations, and with his friends, collected all the soap that the user hadn't used up. I continued the work of scraping the surface of the soap collected in the garage with a potato peeler, crushing it with a meat mincer , melting it with a slow cooker, and reshaping it.

'Approximately 9,000 children in the world die from hygiene-related illnesses every day, and these hygiene-related illnesses are caused by hand washing,' said Cypler, who remanufactured a large amount of soap from the soap that was taken from the hotel for free. Based on the

research result that 'it can be halved', we launched a private organization called 'Clean the World' that delivers recycled soap to children in need.

Clean the World --Recycling Soap. Saving Lives.
https://cleantheworld.org/

In order to monetize Clean the World, Mr. Cypler proposed to the hotel a plan to 'pick up soap for $ 0.5 to $ 1 (about 64 to 128 yen) per room in January'. This plan does not seem to have any merit on the hotel side, but it is said that the number of affiliated hotels is steadily increasing because it has the merit of being able to appeal that it is contributing to a sustainable society by tackling the garbage problem. As of 2022, the number of hotels that have signed a contract with Clean the World has reached 8,000.

Soap, which was manually recycled by Mr. Cypler in 2008, is now sterilized with bleach while being finely crushed with a mixer after removing dirt and hair with a large refiner. It is said that it is reshaped, stamped, packed in a box, and delivered to children with hygiene problems.

Thanks to contributions such as Clean the World, founded by Cypler, the number of children dying from hygiene-related illnesses is declining year by year.