New Partnership Aims To Recycle Discarded Soap, Hygiene Products

New Partnership Aims To Recycle Discarded Soap, Hygiene Products
Members of Stephen Decatur High School’s Connections Club worked with the Clean the World organization to create hygiene kits for Diakonia. Submitted Photo

OCEAN CITY – A resort organization is partnering with local hotels, schools and a national nonprofit to launch a recycling program that promotes global health.

This week, the Ocean City Hotel-Motel-Restaurant Association (OCHMRA) announced its partnership with Clean the World, Clarion Resort Fontainebleau Hotel and Marigot Beach Suites to launch a community-wide program that recycles discarded soap and hygiene products from the hospitality industry.

Susan Jones, executive director for the OCHMRA, said the products will be sent to Clean the World headquarters in Orlando, Fla., where the items will be sterilized and sent to families and children in countries with high adolescent death rates from diarrheal disease and pneumonia, two of the leading causes of death in children under the age of 5.

“If we can help them be cleaner and healthier, then why not?” she said.

Jones said Jackie Berger of the Clarion Resort Fontainebleau Hotel and her daughter, Maddie, were instrumental in connecting the OCHMRA to Clean the World.

After a meeting with a Clean the World representative, Jones said she was excited to launch a partnering program in Ocean City.

“The more he talked the more I was interested and excited about it,” she said.

Jones said the goal is to introduce the community to the program and get half of the resort’s 9,700 hotel rooms to participate.

“We are trying to make it a city-wide initiative,” she said.

If Ocean City is successful in implementing a community-wide program, Jones said the resort will be the second municipality in the country, behind Laguna Beach, Calif., to do so.

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While some hotel chains located in Ocean City currently partner with Clean the World, Jones said she and Clean the World Representative Marcus Thomas will meet with other hoteliers this week to gain their support.

For their part, students in schools around the community are partnering with OCHMRA and Clean the World to build hygiene kits.

On Wednesday, students in Stephen Decatur High School’s Connections Club prepared hygiene kits that will be sent to Diakonia.

“By involving local students in this worthwhile project, we are hoping to create a better understanding of the real needs in our community,” Jones said. “Diakonia provides comfort and direction to those who are in a place of needing help, so they were the perfect group to collaborate with.”

Students at Worcester Preparatory School are also doing their part to support the program.

On Thursday, students built hygiene kits that will be sent to hurricane victims.

“There are so many levels which we can contribute to soap recycling as a community,” Berger said in a statement. “It’s refreshing that my daughter, Maddie, also shares my excitement to partner with CTW (Clean the World) and an interest in educating others about hurricane devastation and that Worcester Prep’s efforts of building hygiene kits can have a global reach.”

Clean the World is a social enterprise dedicated to the mission of saving millions of lives around the world while simultaneously diverting hotel waste from landfills. Since its founding in 2009, the nonprofit has diverted more than 14 million pounds of waste from landfills.

Clean the World operates soap recycling centers in Orlando, Fla., Las Vegas and Hong Kong, and leads a “Global Hygiene Revolution” to distribute recycled soap and hygiene products from more than 5,000 hotel and resort partners.

Since 2009, more than 40 million bars of Clean the World soap have been distributed in over 115 countries. In addition, the nonprofit provides hygiene kits to relief organizations throughout North America.

Jones said individuals can learn more about Clean the World by visiting www.cleantheworld.org. She also encourages hotels to join the cause.

“After learning more about the organization, it really does make you stop and think what happens to all those leftover amenities,” Jones said. “This program truly helps solve a problem, so I felt it was important to share it with our Board of Directors and they too felt it was worthy of implementing.”

About The Author: Bethany Hooper

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Bethany Hooper has been with The Dispatch since 2016. She currently covers various general stories. Hooper graduated from Stephen Decatur High School in 2012 and the University of Maryland in 2016, where she completed double majors in journalism and economics.