CLEAN THE WORLD THIS EARTH DAY AND EVERY DAY

Each year since 1970, Earth Day—April 22—has provided a reminder of the need to protect our planet and conserve our natural resources. Just in time for Earth Day, we have a special interview with Shawn Seipler, CEO of Clean the World, the world’s largest nonprofit organization that collects discarded soap and shampoo from the hotel industry to help those in need. The soap is recycled and then distributed to the poor to prevent hygiene-related deaths. On April 10th, Seipler is teaming with Hilton to share some important lessons about conservation and climate change. You’ll learn how Clean the World has distributed over 40 million bars of soap to the poor in 115 different countries, preventing the spread of illnesses.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN THIS EARTH DAY WITH CEO SHAWN SEIPLER:

  • About Clean The World’s initiatives and sustainable efforts in 115 countries
  • How Hilton is promoting sustainability & conservation with its 236,310 hotel rooms
  • How you can make a difference this Earth Day simply by making smarter travel decisions

Diarrheal diseases kill approximately 1.8 million people per year. Globally, approximately 2.5 billion cases of diarrhea occur among children under 5 years old every year. The World Health Organization (WHO) and World Bank promote hand washing with soap as the most efficient and cost effective intervention to reduce this tragic statistic. Besides combatting diseases such as pneumonia and diarrhea, improved hygiene with soap also addresses a wide range of lesser known, but nevertheless debilitating, tropical diseases. These illnesses often are neglected by an overwhelmed medical system in developing countries. Find out how Clean The World is slowly solving these problems and learn about Hilton’s significant role in this project.

About Shawn Seipler

As founder of Clean the World, Shawn launched a global hygiene revolution. As CEO, he is a business leader who advances humanitarian causes through social entrepreneurism. Shawn previously was Vice President of Sales and Marketing for an e-commerce technology company. His frequent travel led to the concept of recycling hotel soap.

About Clean the World

History

Clean the World was founded in 2009 by Shawn Seipler. As the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for an e-commerce technology company, Shawn traveled several days a week. The idea for soap recycling came about after Shawn learned the barely used bars of hotel soap he left behind each morning ended up in a landfill. That led to Clean the World, a Florida not-for-profit corporation under 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Mission

Clean the World has a two-part mission:

Collect and recycle soap and hygiene products discarded every day by the hospitality industry and other sectors that generate environmental waste.

Through the distribution of these and other donated products to impoverished people, prevent millions of hygiene-related deaths each year, reduce the morbidity rate for hygiene-related illnesses, and encourage vigorous childhood development.

Implementation

We implement our mission through:

Collecting, sorting and processing discarded soap, shampoo conditioner and lotion product donations from participating hospitality partners.

Collection of donated hygiene products from manufacturers.

Recycling these product donations at facilities in Orlando, Fla., Las Vegas, and Hong Kong.

Delivering these recycled product donations to domestic homeless shelters and developing countries suffering from high death rates due to acute respiratory infection and diarrheal disease.

Support

Clean the World receives support from a variety of partners, including hotel companies, corporations outside the hospitality industry, service organizations, trade groups, and individual supporters. These partners contribute in four ways:

Hotel recycling program fees

Direct cash donations

Grants

Gift-in-kind donations

Related links:  cr.hilton.com