Marriott helps ‘Clean the World’ with groundbreaking soap recycling scheme

Instead of throwing away half-used bottles of soap, the 393-bedroom hotel will pass the products onto Clean The World, which will repurpose them into hygiene kits for homeless shelters, senior citizens and struggling families around the world.

“Hundreds of people fly in and out of Heathrow Airport every day and as a result we see hundreds of leisure and business guests come through our doors,” said London Heathrow Marriott Hotel general manager Ron Vos.

“If you think about the amount of soap that’s discarded by each of these guests and then consider all the people in the world that may not have the luxury of hygiene products, it seems absurd to let it all go to waste.

“Clean The World does a fantastic job of distributing these and other donated products to impoverished people, preventing millions of hygiene-related deaths each year –  we’re very pleased to be the first hotel to make a contribution to this cause.”

Lathering up

Clean The World chief executive Shawn Seipler is now calling for more hotels across Europe to embrace this nee circular economy approach. Seipler said: “Since 2009, Clean The World has distributed more than 1 million hygiene kits in the United States, Canada, and Asia, while diverting 3,600 metric tons of waste from landfills.

“European hotels have a strong sustainability focus and are looking for new ways to embrace corporate social responsibility. This expansion is significant for us, and we couldn’t ask for a better launch partner than the London Heathrow Marriott and Marriott International.”

The soap recycling initiative forms part of London Heathrow Marriott Hotel’s dedication to environmental sustainability, having been recognised previously by Greenleaders and Green Tourism for its effort to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Earlier this year, edie reported on a radical programme of energy demand reduction taking place at another Marriott hotel, near Regent’s Park in London, which allows the property to turn down everything from the air conditioning in the lounge to the ice coolers in the corridors and the fridges in the kitchens, without customers noticing.

A portfolio of 140 Marriott-managed hotels in Britain and beyond Europe, spends $90m (£59m) a year on energy.

edie staff