An initiative by a Fortune 500 company of recycling used soaps from hotels after hygienically processing these into new bars for distribution to the poor has impacted nearly 15,000 lives.
Sealed Air Corporation, engaged in the business of food packaging and food safety, cleaning and hygiene solution, launched the 'Soap For Hope initiative' last year to tackle the problem of wastage of soaps in hotels.
It has worked with prominent hotels like the Taj group, Ramada, Hilton, Intercontinental, Accor Group, Radisson, ITC, IHG Group, Lalit, Shangri-La, etc., on this initiative.
The company said it also works closely with Mumbai-based NGO Doctors for You to work on the initiative and amplify its reach.
The initiative launched across 62 cities and 27 countries partnering with more than 250 hotels, has succeeded to collect more than 4260 tons of soap recycling 3805 tons of them to convert into almost 50745 bars of newly processed soaps, it said.
Sealed Air Indian subcontinent and South East Asia VP and MD Himanshu Jain termed the initiative as something which creates value and helps reducing wastage of a basic resource such as soap.
"Recycling used hotel soap is not a new idea; however, the costs are usually high due to the collection, shipment, a centralised reprocessing plant and redistribution. Soap for Hope decentralises and brings the initiative to communities that are located near the partner hotels," he said.
The method of recycling soaps is a simple one that requires no running water or electricity.
The innovative cold-press process takes less than 10 minutes and once the used soap is recycled into fresh bars of soap, these are distributed to communities which lack access to soap or sanitation.
Doctors for You vice president Dr Rajat Jain said in a country like India where hygiene is often overlooked, this soap initiative will help in educating people and bridging the basic hygiene gap.
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