Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Using Leftover Soap Judiciously to “Clean the World”


Guests at hotels, inns, and bed & breakfasts rarely use up the soap provided in each individual room. Some green B&Bs only offer bars of soap on demand, like Harding House in Cambridge, MA, which hopes its guests prefer liquid soap in a dispenser. Here at Chez Sven, we offer both. Each bathtub gets a small slice of an Alaffia spearmint/lavender log, while a tall bottle of Trillium Organics liquid soap is available at the sink. Leftover bars go into a bag, which my ingenious and frugal brother transforms into usable cakes of soap for his family. What do other B&Bs, inns, and hotels do with all their leftover soap? Two young men in Florida have come up with an excellent solution that stops waste and helps the world. They collect used soap, transform it, and distribute the new purified product to people in countries where soap is a rarity. Read all about how you can contribute to this worthwhile non-profit here.