Using Old Soap To Save Lives

Clean the World Foundation

MYFOXNY.COM - You've probably seen those tiny bars of soap in hotel rooms. After you wash your hands a few times and check out of the hotel, what happens to that soap? Some people are using them to save lives.

Clean the World Foundation, Inc. was founded in February 2009 by Shawn Seipler and Paul Till. They got the idea in Orlando, where millions of people use hotels to visit theme parks.

Through the collection, recycling and distribution of soap and shampoo products discarded by hotels every day, Clean the World is dedicated to preventing millions of deaths caused by acute respiratory infection and diarrheal disease.

Acute respiratory illness is the number three killer worldwide. Diarrheal illness is the number five killer worldwide. The illnesses kill five million children every year.

While soap is a basic necessity in the United States, it's too expensive for the impoverished in the third world. A left-over hotel bar can last a week for one family.

Bars of soap from Florida hotel rooms are prepared for travel to Haiti.

The foundation is only working with Florida hotels right now but hopes to expand across the country. For more details on the foundation go to: http://www.cleantheworld.org .