InterContinental Hotel Group Expands Hotel-Soap Recycling Program

We are so happy to hear that InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) is significantly expanding its hotel toiletry-recycling program with the non-profit organization, Clean the World.

Clean the World is an organization that collects and recycles partially used hotel soaps, lotions and shampoos. New and clean soaps are then distributed to needy families in U.S. shelters and around the world.

Today, 62 IHG-brand hotels participate in the soap-recycling program. But IHG officials expect most of its 3,274 North American hotels to join in very soon—adding about 400,000 more rooms to the Clean the World program. “Each property is encouraged to join the Clean the World program immediately upon announcement of the corporate partnership,” Paul Snyder, IHG Vice President of Corporate Responsibility told USA Today.

IHG says their guests will know that they are staying in a participating hotel by placing a Clean the World postcard near their toiletries. The company wants to ensure that their customers “…see how the soaps they leave behind will be recycled to benefit others around the globe.”

Those 62 IHG-brand hotels have so far contributed 268,517 bars of soap to Clean the World. By recycling the partially used soaps, about 41 tons of waste have been diverted from local landfills.

According to Snyder, the 62 hotels that have been collecting and recycling toiletries have showed the company “that it’s easy for the hotels to implement.”

For more information on IHG’s expansion with Clean the World, check out USA Today!