Eco Traveller

Starwood in Global Clean-Up

2011-04-29T23:45:00.001+10:00

Schoolchidren in Haiti with new bars of soap (Clean the World)

Roderick Eime

What does any hotel do with the hundreds, often thousands, of barely used soaps and amenities?

In Starwood’s 176,000 North American rooms, the landfill waste amounts to over 500 tonnes annually just from amenities alone.

Enter the Clean the World Foundation, a “social enterprise committed to saving lives and protecting our planet. It offers sustainable, socially responsible, and charitable programs and services to the international hospitality community.”

Lofty ideals certainly, but the Foundation claims 9000 children die every day from diseases that could be prevented by basic hygiene and hand-washing. As such, they are gathering otherwise waste soap bars and recycling them into new sterilised bars for re-distribution to underprivileged and disaster-struck communities like those in Haiti, Japan, Zimbabwe, Uganda, India, Honduras, Mexico and Albania.

Collected soaps waiting recycling

In the first fully corporate agreement for Clean the World, it gains access to potentially 500 Starwood hotels in North America operating under such brands as St. Regis®, The Luxury Collection®, W®, Westin®, Le Méridien®, Sheraton®, Four Points® by Sheraton, Aloft®, and Element SM.

“Our North American properties represent more than 176,000 rooms, each of which offer the highest quality soaps and bottled amenities to our guests on a daily basis,” says Denise Coll, president of Starwood Hotels in North America. “This partnership amplifies our commitment to corporate social responsibility, and it also should make every member of our Starwood family feel better about the role they play each day in caring for our Earth and the people who inhabit it.”

Shawn Seipler, executive director of Clean the World says, “With hotel properties throughout North America, Starwood will be able to provide an estimated 1.6 million pounds (725 tonnes) of soap annually to children and families who are desperately in need of better access to hygiene products.”

The foundation already collects soaps and waste from 900 North American properties including: Joie de Vivre (34 properties), Sage Hospitality (53) and Hersha Hotels (70). Other participating brands include Preferred, Mandarin Oriental and Harrahs.

For more information on the Clean the World Foundation, see www.cleantheworld.org

2011 Adventure Cruise Guide

2011-04-01T09:55:00.002+11:00

The Myth of Bottled Water

2010-12-07T10:54:00.002+11:00

The Cove - not pretty

2009-10-12T11:41:00.003+11:00

More: www.savejapandolphins.org

Eco Media Group

2008-05-11T13:40:00.004+10:00

Eco Media Group is a team of writers and communicators who are passionate about travel and want to preserve and benefit the world’s most beautiful and sacred places.

Through our articles, publications, website and consulting services, we aim to provide the travelling public with information and resources and help them to make informed choices about their travel.

Here you will find inspiring stories from Australia and around the world on ecotourism, responsible holidays, tourism in developing countries, conservation projects, and profiles on people and organisations who are making a positive contribution to our world through responsible tourism practices.

By writing about travelling in a responsible way; providing travellers with insightful information about destinations; and helping travel companies to be more environmentally and socially responsible; we hope that the benefits of tourism will have a positive impact on the world, and make travelling a richer and more rewarding experience for everyone.