It’s such a simple idea, it’s kind of surprising no one thought of this sooner:  The Global Soap Project is a new initiative to recycle one of the most-wasted items in hotel rooms — soap.

I’ve always done my part to conserve soap by reusing my original bar while stashing all the new ones the housekeepers provide in my luggage, and then using them until they run out at home.  That’s one way to travel a little greener (and it will save you hundreds of cents on your annual soap budget).  Derreck Kayongo, a former refugee from Uganda, thinks there’s a better way to curb hotel waste.

Kayongo spearheaded The Global Soap Project in Atlanta, Georgia.  The project collects all those barely-used bars of soap from hotels, sterilizes and reshapes them, and then redistributes them to refugee camps in Africa.

Right now there are 40 Atlanta hotels participating in the project, including the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead.  Both Kayongo and Ritz-Carlton manager Olivia Brown hope the project will grow.  Do your part by encouraging hotels you visit to participate in the initiative.

I have lots of friends headed to Atlanta this weekend for the Virginia Tech – Georgia Tech football showdown (LET’S GO HOKIES!), and I’m asking them to talk to their hotels about the Global Soap Project.  It cuts down on waste, it helps out people in need, and it’s great for PR — there’s no reason this project should only exist in Atlanta.  Hotels listen to their customers.  Start making some noise about this great project.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 15th, 2009 at 2:29 pm and is filed under Going Green. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.