ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

Sealed Air, US-based parent company of Diversey Care, recently launched the initiative Soap for Hope in Mumbai, India. The scheme, developed with in association with the NGO Doctors for You aims to convert used hotel soaps into fresh soap and provide the recycled soap free-of-cost to communities that have no or limited access to soap.

Himanshu Jain, md and vp for Indian Subcontinent and South East Asia Sealed Air, commented: "Soap for Hope is a real example of creating shared value for all parties involved - our customers, the NGOs, the local communities and Sealed Air employees. Every party plays a critical role and has embraced the Soap for Hope programme enthusiastically.

"We intend to reach out to more communities by touching 25,000 lives by the end of this year and thus create this as a movement rather than a one-off initiative."

After having launched the programme in 62 cities and 27 countries together with 249 partner hotels, Sealed Air India has now taken it to India - aiming to reach out to millions of families by donating not only soaps for hygiene and sanitation but also providing hand hygiene skills training and employment opportunities.

Typically a 400-room hotel generates 3.5 metric tonnes of solid soap waste per annum. This could provide soaps to 2,000 people annually and save 1.5 million lives through proper hand hygiene says Sealed Air.?Soap for Hope is based on a simple process that requires no running water or electricity. Once the used soap is collected from hotels Sealed Air transports it to the local community and teaches local people to recycle/process it using a cold-press method with simple equipment.

The entire process takes less than 10 minutes and once the used soap is recycled into fresh bars it is distributed to communities that lack access to soap or sanitation.

Through this process the local people (especially those who need a small income to supplement their livelihood) learn a new skill in recycling soap, and communities have free access to it. Sealed Air provides all the equipment including the tools and the soap press machine, as well as disinfectant required for re-processing soap.

Click here for more details of Soap for Hope