I just found out about Clean the World, a charitable organization that takes leftover soap from hotels, sanitizes it and gives it to charity. It’s an idea I had before (see Soap Scraps). I love this; taking what seems to be waste and turning it into something positive (helpful).

So it appears that there may be a way to solve my issues with soap scraps without re-purposing those scraps to make a whole new bar of soap. Check out these Waste Reducing Soaps.

I travel a fair amount which means I spend quite a lot of time in hotels. Many times I travel alone, so I have time to spend thinking. One thing that I’ve always thought about when staying in a hotel is how wasteful hotels are with their soap.

The majority of the time I come to a hotel room after the first night I find a new bar of soap in addition (or to replace) the bar I previously used in the shower. Now, that’s not my issue, although I don’t need that extra bar of soap. What I want to know is what they do with the used bar of soap after I check out? I imagine they throw it in the trash.

But here’s my thought (others have had it too). Why don’t we repurpose/reuse those soap scraps? I’ve actually looked into making my own soap in the past (I really want a peppercorn-based soap) and from my research it doesn’t seem all that difficult. In fact, it looks easier if you start with some soap pieces.

I went to bed last night thinking about this and have already come up with what I think is a scalable process for the soap production. Sourcing the soap could be an issue, but to my mind it’s as simple as getting a few hotel chains on board to collect the soap scraps while cleaning – have housekeeping put them in a bag rather than the trash – then collecting them. If I paid for shipping, I’m sure the hotel chain would give them to me.

Then, we’d obviously sell them. It’s green, sustainable, low-cost and we could add flavors/scents.

I already have a domain name, now just need some help…oh, and don’t think I haven’t already thought about shampoo, etc.