this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2023
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Today I Learned

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Used soap from Hilton Hotels is getting a second life.

top 42 comments
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[–] didnt_readit 71 points 1 year ago

I’m honestly really glad to hear this. I always figured they just threw it away and it was such a massive waste.

[–] [email protected] 54 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Honestly, as long as it's been shown to be sanitary, I'm so for recycling. Imagine throwing out all that barely used soap? What a waste.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Maybe it's just the crappy hotels I've used, but the soaps are always so small, I need two whole bars to take a shower. I know I'm not in the best of shape, but I ain't that huge.

[–] lagomorphlecture 34 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yummy, glad to be using some rando's used soap. But on a more serious note as long as it's being done in a way that is sanitary and doesn't risk spreading any diseases then this is much better than producing all that waste.

[–] PopularUsername 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It's distributed to poor countries interested in free soap. They don't reuse it within the hotel, and people that receive it know it's recycled.

I question if this is actually an efficient way of donating soap, it's quite an intensive process I wouldn't be surprised if this was one of those feel-good things that actual costs more than just making new soap.

[–] lagomorphlecture 5 points 1 year ago

Yeah, you could be right that it is just for the feel good press to make them look good. Look at clothes donations. It tanks local textile industries and they're sometimes stuck with piles upon piles of used clothes that don't even look nice. Maybe there's something similar happening here.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

One of the people involved in getting this program going has commented on this thread. You should ask them about that. I'd be curious to know the answer.

[–] iTravelLots 26 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Hey I actually helped create this program. And as info the soap is given to third party companies, plastic is recycled (if bottled soap / shampoo), then it is hygienically processed and donated to a variety of causes. Let me know if you have any questions, but it's not (for once) horrible capitalism something or reused in the hotels.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Thank you for being part of the solution! With so much waste out there, it's nice to learn that at least some measures like these are being taken.

I'm curious what your job is that this is a program you worked on. Also curious if you had any pushback from hotels or if they reacted positively to the idea from the start.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But now what can I spend all this anger on?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago
[–] PopularUsername 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Obviously this reduces waste which is nice but I was curious, does the program actually save money or does the cost to recycle cost more than what is recovered?

[–] iTravelLots 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This part is taken care of by 3rd party companies so I can only half answer that. It bring zero savings to the hotel other than a insignificant amount less garbage that is taken away.

Recycling like this is much better and easier because you have large quantities of the same types of plastic all together. This makes processing, sorting and recycling easier. The soap itself is easy to process

[–] QueenAlucia 20 points 1 year ago

Great, I was always a bit upset thinking of all of them going to waste.

[–] BigPapaE 17 points 1 year ago (4 children)

the hair and stuff off

What..what other kind of stuff are we talking about 🫣

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Little bits of shower oreos

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

you know that half-liquid stuff? that stuff.

people don't shove soap up their ass.... never happens... those little soaps aren't really large enough for it...

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

You wouldn't want to do that anyway. Stuff up the arse needs a flared base, or you'll end up with a hospital visit.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Ya never pooped a brick of soap before?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It'll shoot clean up there.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

And clean the chute up there.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I mean... you're not wrong, really.

[–] whynotzoidberg 2 points 1 year ago

Here ya go. Mike Rowe has a good way of going through all of that “and stuff” convo. Dirty Jobs FTW https://youtu.be/_ndZ9PnqKw8

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks for triggering my germaphobia.

But then again, I'd probably be too afraid to travel.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Isn't soap supposed to kill all that stuff? Wouldn't germs die when in contact with it for too long?

[–] cedarmesa 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)
[–] Aux 3 points 1 year ago

Surfactants effectively kill many varieties of microbes https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7166552/

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Well, TIL more than one thing!

[–] Aux 2 points 1 year ago

That reply is wrong, surfactants effectively kill many varieties of microbes https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7166552/

[–] Psaldorn 2 points 1 year ago

Soap emperor here: can confirm. But mostly I let my soapologists deal with the details.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I wish they'd just put the soap and shampoo in fixed dispenser units like in the hand soap in a public bathroom. No stupid little bottle of shampoo where there's more plastic than shampoo.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I've been in a few hotels this year and every one of them has done this. They put them in locked in containers that you can't really contaminate.

[–] Usernameblankface 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah. This is a nice idea to deal with the problem, but why are they perpetuating the problem? Why continue to use bar soaps that constantly need to be collected? Do customers throw a fit if they have liquid soap?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Here is video about it, if you want to see the process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qJV34pcOaw

[–] scudmud 3 points 1 year ago

Good video, just the one I was thinking of. During the pandemic my company sent employees boxes of sanitation kits to assemble and bag and then donate to homeless shelters. The kit included these remanufactured soap bars, along with unused random hotel lotion and shampoo, sample tubes of toothpaste, very cheap white toothbrushes, and moist towelettes.

[–] Lzwzli 5 points 1 year ago

Reduce, reuse, recycle!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

While I am all in for recycling, this was something I didn't want to know.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Today I learned I didn't want to know that lol I get it's probably sanitary and whatever but still. Thanks!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

This is why I always take the hotel soap with me

[–] TomBishop 0 points 1 year ago

Ah finally, sustainability!

Nah, probably just capitalism.

Win-win then?

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