Turning waste into hygiene: How a hotel stay inspired an Orlando-based nonprofit to ‘Clean the World’

What happens to unused soap at hotels?

Have you ever wondered what happens to all the soap you don't use after staying in a hotel? For one hotel in the area, it ends up at Clean the World, a business dedicated to diverting hotel waste.

ORLANDO, Fla. - Have you ever wondered what happens to all the soap you don't use after staying in a hotel? If you've ever stayed at a Marriott Vacations Worldwide resort, it ends up at Clean the World in Orlando.

After a guest stays, housekeeping services collect all the used soap bars and bottles of soap – and ships them to Clean the World, a Orlando-based nonprofit organization dedicated to diverting hotel waste.

"Being able to support the community with hygiene kits is super important to us," said Charlotte de la Paline, director of rooms operations and guest experience.

Clean the World's warehouse has a humble beginning. It all started 15 years ago after CEO and Founder Shawn Seipler was staying at a hotel.

"I called the desk and asked what happens to the soap and shampoo when I was done with it. They said it was thrown away," he said.

Behind the scenes at Clean the World

Clean the World seeks to divert hotel waste, so that means the unused soap left in your hotel room ends up here.

He wanted to figure out a way to recycle the soap for those in need – instead of it ending up in a landfill.

"The aha moment for Clean the World when I learned that 15 years ago there were 9,000 children dying a day due to hygiene-related illnesses," Sheipler said.

So he learned how to melt soap and turn it into new bars – all in his kitchen.

"Our first garage set up was a meat grinder," Seipler said. "To grind all the soap, we sat on pickle buckets and potato peelers and scraped the outside of the soap."