FAQ
What is Clean the World?
- Clean the World Foundation, Inc. is committed to reducing the waste created by discarded soap and shampoo products and preventing the millions of deaths caused by hygiene-related illnesses around the world.
- Clean the World was founded in February 2009 by Shawn Seipler and Paul Till and is based in Orlando, FL.
- A not for profit, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization
How does Clean the World accomplish its mission?
- By collecting, sorting, and sanitizing discarded soap, shampoo, conditioner, and lotion products donated from participating hospitality partners
- By collecting donated hygiene products from manufacturers
- Clean the World recycles product donations at its Recycling Operations Center (ROCS).
- The recycled products are delivered to local homeless shelters and impoverished countries worldwide.
How does soap save lives?
- Hand washing with soap significantly reduces the impact of two fatal diseases: acute respiratory infection and diarrheal disease.
- Over 5 million lives are lost every year from these diseases.
- The majority of those dying are children less than 5 years old.
How much waste are you preventing?
- Since inception, Clean the World has eliminated over 340 tons of waste.
- This equals 5 million soap bars and 35.5 tons of shampoo and conditioner – all put back into human use.
How do you recycle soap?
- Clean the World provides hospitality partners with bins for housekeeping staff to deposit collected soap and shampoo bottles.
- Bins are picked up weekly by Clean the World staff and transported to the Recycling Operations Center.
- Soap is recycled using two methods: re-batching and sanitization
What is re-batching?
- Cook soap to remove all impurities
- Reform soap into 2-ounce bars
- Applied about 10% of the time to moderately to heavily used bars
What is sanitization?
- Soak soap in a sterilization solution
- Treat soap with a steam/pressure combination
- Test soap’s pH level
- Cool for packaging
- Proprietary, patent-pending process
- Applied 90% of the time to slightly used bars
Is the soap safe?
- Tested by TriTech Laboratories, a Florida state-certified testing facility
- Twice tested: June 26, 2009 and April 9, 2010
- TriTech provided infected soap to run through the standard Clean the World recycling process
- Soap tested for sanitization levels
- Result: complete elimination of all the pathogens TriTech used: Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aerogenes, Salmonella typhymurium, and Staphylococcus aureus.
Where does Clean the World operate?
- 40 states
- Recycling Centers in Orlando, Las Vegas, Toronto, and Vancouver
- Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington D.C. facilities opening in 2010
Who are your hospitality partners?
- 260 hospitality partners, including Walt Disney World Resorts,Westgate Resorts, Intercontinental, Hilton, Hyatt, Starwood, Harrah’s, and other major brands
- Over 100,000 hotel rooms recycled daily
- For more info on our hospitality partners click here
How do you distribute the soap and shampoo?
- Clean the World built an international distribution network
- Direct distribution established in Haiti
- Strategic partnerships with Non-governmental Organizations (World Vision, Compassion Alliance, and Floating Doctors)
- Clean the World directly distributes to domestic homeless shelters and missions
Who does the recycling work?
- 18 full-time employees
- Volunteers
- Team-building groups
How can I get involved in your cause?
- Click here to find out how to volunteer!
- Financial donations are welcome and appreciated
- Encourage hotel management to participate in the Clean the World program
- Support our corporate partners
What can I do with soap that I would normally throw away?
- Host a soap drive
- Send or drop off the soap: 8026 Sunport Drive, Suite 306, Orlando, FL 32809