Sealed Air, in association with Mumbai-based NGO Doctors for You, has recently launched a new project in India that involves recycling used hotel soaps into fresh soaps and providing them to communities with no or limited access to soap.
‘According to Sealed Air, many hotel partners have evinced keen interest in the program, as it ensures that the soap that is currently going waste is put into a good use’.
“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,” said Himanshu Jain, Sealed Air MD and VP in the Indian Subcontinent and South East Asia.
“Every party plays a critical role and has embraced the Soap for Hope program enthusiastically. We intend to reach out to more communities and create an impactful living by touching 25,000 lives by end of this year and thus create this as a movement rather than a one-off initiative.”
The process behind Soap for Hope involves collecting used soaps from hotels and transporting it to local communities. Those in the communities are then taught how to recycle the soap using a cold-press method, disinfectant and equipment supplied by Sealed Air. The whole process takes less than 10 minutes.
Once the soap is recycled into fresh bars, it is distributed to communities that lack adequate access to soap or sanitation.
“We want the overall hygiene awareness to go up through this initiative and have an integrated approach towards hand hygiene which will lead to more livelihood for the communities nearby,” said Doctors for You vice president Dr Rajat Jain.
‘Hand-washing with soap is among the most effective and inexpensive ways to prevent diarrheal and respiratory diseases in developing countries, where millions of children per year suffer from diseases that could have been prevented with proper hand-washing’.
Soap for Hope aims to reach out to millions of families in India through soap donation, hand sanitisation awareness and skill training.