Clean the World is Turning Japanese

Sushi? Nope, it's soap!!

We’ve been fortunate at Clean the World to receive quite a bit of positive media attention for our soap recycling and distribution efforts. You’ve seen us featured on Fox News Channel, CNN, CBS Evening News and many local TV broadcasts. And you may have read about us in USA Today, many local newspapers and magazines – and this blog.

But this week we went global in a big way. TV Tokyo broadcast a special report on Clean the World during its Aug. 31 evening broadcast that originates from New York. It will be rebroadcast Sept. 5 in the United States and twice in Japan during the next week. That’s wide-ranging exposure for Clean the World that should help improve our outreach among Asian nations and hotel partners. And we’re very excited to receive feedback from potential partners and eager soap recycling supporters all over the world.

We were honored with a two-day visit in early August by TV Tokyo producer Mariko Daicho and her crew, who spent considerable time at our Orlando headquarters and with some of our Orlando hotel partners. The crew filmed our soap recycling operation – from delivery to initial scraping; steam-cleaning to sanitization; repackaging and delivery. Quite a process to capture in a single news story, but it’s something we are proud to do every day for people in need.

The TV Tokyo story examines Clean the World’s success in helping recycle soap for impoverished children and families, but it does so from a business perspective:

-        Why should corporations join with Clean the World to help expand our mission?

-        How can hotel partners work with Clean the World to improve the environment, eliminate landfill waste and help repurpose hotel soaps for communities who may never visit their hotels?

-        How do you leverage a business imperative for social good?

We hope you’ll all be watching. And even though the story is in Japanese, I’m sure the positive message will translate to all who see it and cheer for a cleaner, healthier world.

Many thanks to our friends at the Peabody Orlando hotel for helping provide professional courtesy and an interview space for several segments. And special thanks to Marshall Kelberman, director of rooms administration at Peabody Orlando, for being so gracious and accommodating during the TV Tokyo visit.

Once the story airs in Japan, we’ll share the link with you. We’ll hope to translate all the good parts and share them with you in a future blog post. Stay tuned…

Thanks for helping us Clean the World,

Shawn Seipler
Executive Director
Clean the World

Explosive Growth & Celebration at Clean the World

July proved to be an explosive month for Clean the World.  We welcomed new partner properties at a record breaking pace, expanded our operations throughout North America, and on-boarded many noteworthy properties, including a rather exclusive property in south Florida. 

Clean the World added 56 properties as recycling partners in the month of July alone. This brings our total count of participating properties to more than 300 resorts, hotels, and bed and breakfasts in 39 states. This is an incredible achievement, and we are truly grateful to each of our partners for helping us eliminate the needless waste hitting our landfills, while providing life-saving soap to impoverished people the world over.

The potential impact of this effort is staggering. These 56 properties added in July equate to 6,757 rooms, each outfitted with plentiful soaps and shampoos for guests. These rooms provide more than 8,492 lbs. of discarded amenities, which now will be diverted from landfills due to our recycling efforts.  Also, by recycling the soaps from these rooms, nearly 5,188 needy children will have enough soap to keep themselves clean for an entire month. Now that’s cause for celebration!

We would like to make special mention of several distinguished properties that have joined the Clean the World family. The W Hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., a luxurious Starwood property along Florida’s Gold Coast, is one of the premier East Coast properties.  Having been awarded AAA’s Four Diamond award, The W is truly a work of art, and Clean the World is proud to display a gem like The W in our crown.

We want to share the love with our friends from the north as well. The Radisson Plaza in Kalamazoo, Mich., has also joined our amenity recycling program.  At 341 rooms, the Radisson Plaza is a force to be reckoned with in the hospitality industry. We look forward to capitalizing on this wonderful opportunity to take its slightly used amenities, and use them to save lives.

Finally, Clean the World will pull on its snow boots and prepare for an avalanche of partnership success in the Great White North.  Clean the World has officially launched the Canadian branch of our amenity recycling program, and in its first week of operation our Canadian partners have delivered a lovely, quaint property in Victoria, British Columbia.

Abigail’s Hotel is an exquisite property nestled in the heart of downtown Victoria. This 1930s Tudor-style building is absolutely breathtaking.  Expedia Insiders has rated Abigail’s among the top one percent of hotels worldwide. Adding the soap recycling program to this elegant property should only boost its already impressive standing among future guests.

As always, we are blown away by the continued response to our recycling, life-saving program.  And we look forward to seeing what the future holds for Clean the World. With the help of our current and future partners, we will be able to change the course of history in our lifetime – one bar of soap at a time.

Clean the World and World Vision working together on WASH...

This month, Clean the World increased its donated World Vision hygiene product volume from one to two full truckloads of product. These two monthly truckloads are comprised of approximately 300,000 small bars of soap and nearly as many small bottles of shampoo. The soap bars and shampoo bottles, which are rescued every day from landfills by the housekeepers at our 300 partner hotels, resorts and inns, are distributed by World Vision into villages around the world as part of their many ongoing hygiene programs. Over the past 25 years, 19 million rural inhabitants of Africa, Asia, and Latin America have gained access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation & hygiene through World Vision's integrated and environmentally sustainable programming. One such program is the WASH.

What does WASH encompass?

World Vision’s WAter, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) program approaches the world’s challenges for safe water, improved sanitation, and good hygiene in an integrated manner to optimize the positive health and economic impacts. “Safe” water must address water quality to prevent water-related diseases and also be close enough to the user’s domicile to encourage use of the water source. Sanitation involves both physical infrastructure, such as latrines, and also the use and maintenance of the sanitation facilities. Good hygiene is the practice of cleanliness, such as handwashing, to prevent diseases. By 2025, it is estimated that more than 2.8 billion people in 48 countries will face water stress or scarcity. Safe drinking water, improved sanitation, good hygiene, and good water resource management can lead to a reduction in child mortality, cut transmission of malaria, improve public health, and reduce extreme poverty. More than 4,200 children die each day from diarrheal diseases caused by unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation facilities. Worldwide, another 5,000 die each day due to the leading cause of death in children under the age of 5, acute respiratory illness or pneumonia. Visual impairment of 5 million people from trachoma is partly due to lack of good hygiene. Proper handwashing hygiene with soap breaks the chain of transmission of these diseases. Most of these preventable illnesses, disabling blindness and deaths are in under-developed nations.

World Vision’s WASH programs encompass safe water provision and improved sanitation provision, education on water-related diseases and good hygiene, and capacity building for sustainability of improved public health. World Vision's strategy involves World Vision's response promoting sustainable water management, and fostering partnerships for water, sanitation, and hygiene development, creating awareness, and advocacy. This includes a focus on reaching children through communities, schools, and health centers.

Soap and shampoo, which is otherwise thrown away every day, is being collected by Clean the World from their partner properties and then plugged into WASH and other programs by World Vision, being used to educate and improve lives, and saving children from needless illness and death.

We feel extremely blessed and grateful for World Vision’s partnership with Clean the World.

U.S. Navy Enlists Clean the World

The USS Iwo Jima deployed July 19th, 2010 for Operation Continuing Promise, an annual humanitarian operation that provides health care and other relief services to communities in Latin America and the Caribbean.  This is a mission tailored to save lives, reduce human suffering and capitalize on training opportunities in Central and South America.

Rob Phillips & Commander Lewis Preddy

Clean the World’s Media Director, Jeremy Chambers, and Rob Phillips NGO Relationship Director caught up with the Iwo Jima at Mayport Naval Station in Jacksonville on July 17th, where final preparations for the humanitarian mission were underway. They were met by CDR Preddy, who has been working diligently with Clean the World and AeroBridge Executive Director Maryanne Stevenson. Phillips and Stevenson spearheaded an effort to collect over 100 pallets of soap, disinfectant, medical supplies, dental supplies, tents, tarps and 48 pallets of Gatorade. Clean the World, with a generous donation from Marietta Corporation, is sending over 50,000 bars of soap to distribute during the deployment. Special thanks to Haiti-supply relief experts at Compassion Alliance in Ocala, Florida and all of the compassionate organizations that sent supplies from across the U.S., much of it moved on short notice by our good friends at Eagle Freight, LLC., who without hesitation, jumped into the mission!

The last of the supplies, as well as several hundred additional pallets of goods donated by more than 30 non-governmental organizations (NGOs), were loaded at the port of Miami before proceeding on the first leg of the mission in Port de Paix, Haiti. In Miami, Phillips, Stevenson and Chambers met up with the Iwo Jima to bid Bon Voyage to the cargo, the crew and the wide-eyed NGO volunteers who are going aboard for the 120 day mission.

Continuing Promise 2010, will include humanitarian and civic assistance activities in Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Nicaragua, Panama and Suriname, and will be supported by a crew of approximately 1,600 military and civilian medical, engineering, aviation, logistical and other support personnel.

The military and civilian medical team aboard Iwo Jima will provide general surgical, primary and consultative care; ophthalmologic services; optometric services; preventative and environmental health; dental screenings and treatment; public health training; and veterinary services. The team will work alongside medical personnel and NGOs from each of the countries during the deployment.

USS Iwo Jima

U.S. Navy engineers, known as Seabees, will conduct building repairs and improvements, small construction projects, utility system repairs and other engineering assistance projects for local communities during the mission. Approximately 500 Marines will provide aviation, ground and logistical support to the mission and conduct subject-matter-expert exchanges on various medical and engineering topics.

Large amphibious ships, like the 844 foot, 41,000 ton Iwo Jima, resemble small aircraft carriers and include the ability to rapidly move personnel and cargo by helicopter and landing craft, making it an ideal platform to support humanitarian relief missions on short notice. Iwo Jima will operate in the Caribbean basin, an area with a history of severe weather events during the peak months of the hurricane season.

The crew of the Iwo Jima will be joined during the mission by medical, dental and engineering professionals from Canada, Chile, Germany, the Netherlands and Paraguay.

This is the fifth such deployment to the region since 2007. Continuing Promise crews have treated more than 265,000 patients during previous missions

Please Remember the People of Haiti by William Lowry

Six months after the devastating earthquake that ravaged the poorest country in the western hemisphere, Progress is slow. Before the earthquake struck, it was a challenge everyday for most Haitians to find work, find food, find medical attention, and find hope. Those everyday challenges have only been multiplied greatly since that catastrophic day.

Nearly all Haitians I spoke with before the quake, made it clear that in their need for help, they were not looking for a handout. They only needed help to get up and on their feet, a chance to create opportunity. Consistently, I found these good people were committed to receiving help and then becoming helpers. There was a constant belief that they could turn things around. If belief was enough, in the hands of these believers, things would turn around quickly for this small nation.

But belief is not enough and the challenges are many. Overcoming the lack of industry, the lack of education, the lack of good soil, the lack of trees, the impact of settled traditions, the lack of leadership, the elements of corruption, the lack of financial resources, the absence of structure, and the unplanned affect weather alone has caused, can at times make Haiti’s battles seem overwhelming. Yet they are a resilient people who have learned to deal with everything they have faced.

Today, tent cities abound. People are having to adapt to these temporary structures and close communities. Great concerns about health issues needfully exist as outbreaks of malaria and diarrheal disease rise and fall. You can only imagine the setting - a camp that has just experienced a heavy rainfall. There is no place for the water to go and the walking areas and “streets” are not paved or graveled so they all become a blanket of mud. Water leaks in the tents and runs into the flooring of many. Mud is tracked everywhere and when the rains subside, the sun comes out, and things begin to dry, there is a layer of dry dirt on just about everything. These circumstances are currently the best available for thousands upon thousands of Haitians, young and old. The quake spared noone in Haiti.

However, rebuilding has begun. Throughout the destructed areas, people, organizations, and the government are beginning to rebuild. First there is the removal of the massive amounts of rubble, then a temporary structure, and then the new construction. Money flows slowly into Haiti, both to and through the government, as uncertainty about upcoming elections remain and scrutiny is maintained due to fears of corruption. The past haunts Haiti. Some very unscrupulous leaders in the past squandered and stole millions of aid money and lined their own pockets, all while leaving the Haitian people in their misery. Noone wants to see that happen again and as the money flows toward meaningful effort, the long-sought and arduous journey of rebuilding takes place.

Clean the World joins the many good organizations that are helping Haiti recover. The needs are many and no single organization has the ability to address every need. But working together, alongside the Haitian people, we bring hope, help, and hands. The effort will take patience and consistent work. We have moved beyond the initial crisis and have settled into a daily grind of steady labor.

You can help!! You can make a difference in Haiti. First, by not forgetting. Remember the massive dimensions of the destruction that hit Haiti. Second, find a good organization and give money to help that organization have the resources needed. Third, volunteer. Make yourself available to organizations who are helping Haiti. You can give more than money. You could even go to Haiti to help. Fourth, pray. Remember the good people of Haiti in your prayers, especially the children. So many are parentless, homeless, orphaned, injured, and sick.

Haiti is a nation of over 9 million people nestled among Caribbean islands just 600 miles from Florida. They are the poorest country in the western hemisphere. The poorest country was made poorer by the quake. It would be a shame to forget them if they were on the other side of the planet. Even less acceptable to forget them when they are at our back door.

Please remember the people of Haiti!!!!

Chase Community Giving Grant

Voting has already begun...only six days left!


The Chase Community Giving Grant will be awarded to 200 charities. One charity will receive $250,000. Four others will be awarded $100,000, and the remaining 195 will receive $20,000.

What does this mean for Clean the World? These dollars translate into more recycled soap and more deaths prevented. Nearly 350 tons of soap are thrown away by hotels in the US every day. More than 13,000 lives are lost to diarrhea and pneumonia every day.

$20,000 would provide soap for over 4,000 families of five for one year.
$100,000 would allow us to purchase previously-owned soap equipment to increase our recycling capabilities by 500%.
$250,000 would increase our recycling efforts by 500%, PLUS 20,000 children born today could live to celebrate their third birthday - thanks to hand washing with soap.

HOW TO VOTE:  Voting has begun on Facebook and will continue until July 13. Vote here or click the Chase image above. First, you must “like” the Chase Community Giving application. Then, click the green banner “Get Started to Vote.” Follow the prompt and then click the green button “Vote Now.” That’s it!

Help us continue to stop needless waste and senseless death. Vote for us, and be sure to tell your friends to vote for us, too!

PRESS RELEASE: Gilchrist & Soames, Clean the World Enter Exclusive Partnership

Indianapolis, IN - Thursday, June 17, 2010 - Gilchrist & Soames today announced a three-year exclusive partnership with Orlando, Florida-based Clean the World, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization dedicated to saving lives and preserving the environment through an innovative hotel amenities recycling program.

 “We have been in talks with Clean the World for quite a while, and our joint efforts during the aftermath of the January earthquake in Haiti really kicked things into gear for us,” said Kathie De Voe, president of Gilchrist & Soames. “We ultimately made the decision to formalize a long-term relationship.”

The strategic alliance with Gilchrist & Soames will help Clean the World realize their mission to prevent infant mortality in developing nations while also reducing environmental waste.

“We are thrilled to be working with Gilchrist & Soames. They have a deep commitment to the environment and to the life-saving mission of Clean the World. They will be invaluable in expanding our innovative recycling program through their partner hotels, and through their assistance, Clean the World is able to build out our network of Recycling Operation Centers (ROCs) for sanitizing and repacking partially used guest amenities,” said Shawn Seipler, co-founder of Clean the World Foundation. “Gilchrist & Soames is simply the right partner at the right time. We are grateful for their support.”

As part of the exclusive arrangement, Gilchrist & Soames is helping to fund the expansion of Clean the World’s infrastructure. Additionally, Gilchrist & Soames is afforded exclusive rights to offer Clean the World’s life-saving recycling program to hotels worldwide, which means that any hotel property can join the Clean the World program by contacting Gilchrist & Soames.

About Gilchrist & Soames
Gilchrist & Soames is a leading provider of cosmetic-grade toiletry collections for world-class hotels, exclusive resorts, and distinguished spas, inns, and bed & breakfasts. Specializing in servicing the luxury market, Gilchrist & Soames’ products can be found in discerning properties throughout the world. Gilchrist & Soames is based in Indianapolis, Indiana and Peterborough, London, England. The company is wholly-owned by Swander Pace Capital, San Francisco. For more information, visit http://www.gilchristsoames.com.