Hilton Expands Soap Recycling Program

MCLEAN, Va. — Hilton announced last month that all 750 properties across its all suites brands will recycle discarded soap and amenity bottles and donate them to reduce hygiene-related illnesses for communities in need.

Hilton’s hotels have collected over one million pounds of partially-used soap.

This expands Hilton’s soap recycling program that will now include 1,370 hotels participating across the company’s portfolio.

Hilton’s all suites brands include Embassy Suites by Hilton, Homewood Suites by Hilton and Home2 Suites by Hilton. They comprise nearly 15 per cent of Hilton’s current portfolio and 29 per cent of its pipeline, and the new brand standard will nearly double the number of hotels participating in the soap-recycling program.

Through its partnerships with Clean the World and other organizations, Hilton’s hotels have already collected more than one million pounds of partially used soap, which have been recycled into more than four million new bars of soap. This process has also diverted more than 570 tons of waste. In addition to supplying the soap, these organizations educate people about the importance of hygiene and hand washing.

Through the program, hotels’ partially used soaps and amenities are shipped to Clean the World’s collection and recycling centres. There, they are processed, remanufactured into new soap bars and prepared for distribution to homeless shelters, community centres and medical facilities in impoverished communities around the world.

Clean the World is a social enterprise dedicated to the mission of saving millions of lives around the world while simultaneously diverting hotel waste from landfills. The organization collects discarded soap and other hygiene products from more than 4,000 hotel and resort partners and operates recycling centers in North America, Asia and Europe. The organization provides hygiene education and micro lending to make hand washing and local soap purchases a lifelong habit in developing regions. Through its hygiene kit program, Clean the World provides personal care items to relief organizations throughout North America. Since 2009, more than 35 million bars of Clean the World soap have been distributed in 100 countries.