I have a lot of love for this project. As sustainable lifestylers, I'm sure most of us would never use a hotel soap once (or if we do use them we take them home and use it until it disappears..) but in the US alone, 2.6 million bars of soap are discarded daily. Paired with the fact that 1.8 million deaths can be prevented each year purely by better hand washing, the clever people at Global Soap started this incredible initiative! They work with partners in The USA, to collect in discarded soap, sterilise it and distribute it to areas in desperate need. But this work is certainly not short term, here's a word from Global Soap themselves to sum up their incredible work:
"Our goal is to ensure that once people receive soap, they have access to it for the rest of their lives. This means helping them understand how to use it, why to use it, and why it is worth acquiring from local sources long-term. In other words, we create an immediate positive health impact that can be sustained for the rest of their lives while supporting local economies, and without creating dependence on us or free soap.
To help fulfill this goal, we also operate an ongoing micro-loan program to provide start-up capital and training to small-scale soapmakers in communities that lack access to quality, affordable soap around the world. Through this initiative, we’re able to make sure that soap is sufficiently available for residents in the community so that once people understand how and why to use soap they’re able to source it locally instead of relying on us or other aid groups for donated products. This helps support the local economy, while ensuring the positive impact on global health is sustainable long-term."
A really wonderful cause, and if you've got spare time, or money, you can donate to them by following this link:
http://www.globalsoap.org/get-involved/