In a world where waste and hygiene challenges are on the rise, Clean the World offers a unique and sustainable solution. Manuel Rodriguez, operational director of the European division, and his team are committed daily to both reducing hotel waste and providing hygiene products to people in need. “It once started as an idea how to help people in needs and now we are working with thousands of hotels.”
United States, 2009. Shawn Seipler, a Vice president of Sales and Marketing for a global e-commerce technology company notices in one of his travel the waste of unused soaps during a hotel stay. He wonders where those soaps end up. A quick calculation tells him that millions of bars of soap are wasted on an annual basis, while elsewhere in the world people die from lack of hygiene. This realization leads to the creation of Clean the World: an organization dedicated to repurposing hotel soap bars and plastic bottle amenities. Hilton hotels are among the first hotel chains to partner with Clean the World through the Global Hospitality Recycling Program. While the soap bars are recycled into new bars and donated to global NGOs, like The WASH Foundation, to be distributed to people in need, the plastic bottles (such as shampoo and conditioner) are either recycled or used for clean energy generation.
Netherlands, 2024. Manuel Rodriguez and his team have been working from their location in Aalsmeer for almost a year, after first being based in Amsterdam since 2018. With facilities in several continents, Clean the World has grown in 15 years into an impactful organization working with more than 8,300 hotels worldwide. “Our goal is simple: to be able to help people in need and make the world a better and sustainable place,” Manuel said.
Challenges in Europe
Manuel explains how Clean the World encountered new challenges in Europe. To comply with the regulations, Clean the World has had to make additional investments and adjustments to their processes. And because they are seeing a decline in the availability of solid hotel soap in Europe, the focus in Europe is shifting toward plastic recycling. “Hotels are increasingly using dispensers and large bottles these days, so we receive more plastic than soap,” Manuel explains. As a result, Clean the World has adapted to recycle and repurpose plastic on a large scale converting plastic amenities into raw material.
Innovative Projects: Hygiene Kits and CSR Events
CTW Events, Clean the World’s “sister” brand (both being part of Clean the World Global) is using the recycled soap in some of their CSR* events. Indeed, as a premier provider of fully scalable and customizable team-building experiences with a purpose, CTW Events organizes hygiene kits build events with organisations to help them achieve (or even exceed) their CSR goals. All made of sustainable items, these hygiene kits include items such as shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, a toothbrush and of course a bar of Clean the World soap. Manuel explains how this works, “These events focus on team-building activities. We invite employees to put together hygiene kits which are then donated on behalf of the company to refugee camps, disaster areas or another charity of their choice.” This not only provides a hands-on CSR opportunity for companies, but also brings awareness to their staff. “We see that these events really touch employees,” Manuel continued. “Many people want to contribute to charity, but often don’t know how. This type of activity provides a tangible way to help directly. Often, we also add a game element to make it fun and dynamic: which team can put together the most kits in a given time? Especially in teams that are used to competing among themselves, such as sales departments, this competitive atmosphere comes through very well. Employees get totally swept up in it, and they report afterwards that it gives them great satisfaction to contribute in this way.” Last year, for example, thanks to a partnership with Amazon, thousands of kits went to Ukraine and refugee camps. Microsoft and Expedia also put together numerous kits during their CSR events, which were donated to local shelters and relief organizations around the world.
Future plans
With only 2% of the European hotel market connected, Manuel sees plenty of room for growth. “We still have a lot of work to do,” he says with a smile. By working with hotels and major companies in Europe, and by building a network of partners, the organization can increase its impact. Moreover, according to Manuel, sustainability should not just be a marketing strategy, but a real change. “Many hotels use sustainability as a selling point, but we want to help them make it concrete… We want to show guests the story behind their hotel experience, so they know their stay is making a difference,” Manuel explains. Although the implementation of sustainability in the hotel industry is sometimes slow, Clean the World does see positive change. “We notice that more and more hotel guests think sustainability is important,” says Manuel. “The younger generation is asking questions about what hotels are doing for the environment. This pressure helps us convince hotels to act and actually contribute to a better world.”
