Joseph Eid/AFP/Getty Images TOPSHOT - Former Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn looks on before addressing a large crowd of journalists on his reasons for dodging trial in Japan, where he is accused of financial misconduct, at the Lebanese Press Syndicate in Beirut on January 8, 2020. - Ghosn arrived at the venue, making his first public appearance since skipping bail in Japan. The fugitive tycoon, who denies any wrongdoing, skipped bail while awaiting trial on multiple charges of financial misconduct including allegedly under-reporting his compensation to the tune of $85 million. (Photo by JOSEPH EID/AFP via Getty Images)<doc-sep>These hotels are making accommodations to save the planet and its neediest residents. Take Hilton, which wants to gather enough used scraps of soap from its Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton by Hilton and All Suites guest rooms to recycle them into 1 million new bars of soap for people in need by Global Handwashing Day on Oct. 15. It has teamed up with Clean the World, a social organization that gives soap to communities in need or adds them to hygiene kits for education and emergency relief efforts. The “dirty” soap is crushed, sanitized and cut into new soap, and Clean the World has distributed more than 48 million bars of soap to more than 127 countries since 2009. Hilton volunteers packed 110,000 recycled soap hygiene kits last year. Hilton HLT, +1.95% has also already helped Clean the World divert more than 2 million pounds of soap and amenities bottles away from landfills. “As one of the world’s most hospitable companies, we are always looking for ways to have a positive impact in the communities where we develop and serve millions of guests each year,” said Bill Duncan, Hilton’s global head of all suites and focused service, in a statement. “Our hotels were among the first in the industry to participate in soap recycling and have remained leaders in the global hygiene revolution, making the world a more hospitable place by empowering our team members and guests to eradicate preventable hygiene-related illnesses.” Don’t miss: Would you buy ice cream, mouthwash and shampoo in reusable containers? This company hopes so Hilton isn’t the only hospitality company upgrading its sustainability. Marriott International has also set a goal to cut its food waste in half, reduce the waste it sends to landfills by 45% and slash its electricity usage 30% by 2025. And in one move to hit those marks, about 450 hotels in five Marriott brands (including Courtyard, Residence Inn and Aloft hotels) are swapping those tiny, complimentary bottles of shampoo, conditioner and body wash traditionally offered in hotel rooms for more eco-friendly wall-mounted bulk dispensers, The Wall Street Journal reported. Four InterContinental Hotels Group brands (such as Holiday Inn Express, Kimpton and Staybridge Suites) are doing the same. The Journal (which is owned by News Corp, the same parent company as MarketWatch) noted that billions of these half-full travel-size bottles get thrown out every year, or roughly 1,000 bottles for every hotel room, multiplied by the more than 5 million hotel rooms in the U.S. So by not handing out 10.3 million tiny plastic bottles at those 450 hotels each year, Marriott can avoiding dumping another 113,000 pounds of plastic in landfills annually. Some hotels are replacing tiny plastic bottles of toiletries for wall-mounted dispensers. wakila/iStock Or the Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa, a luxury resort atop a coral atoll, has reduced its plastic footprint by replacing plastic bottles of mineral water with glass ones for guests and staff, saving 120,000 plastic bottles each year, as well as replacing plastic straws with paper ones, and offering reusable ceramic bottles of shampoo and conditioner in lieu of mini plastic bottle amenities. It also helps keep its surrounding waters crystal clear by arranging for its dhoni (traditional Maldivian boats) to collect plastics from nearby islands twice a week. The collected plastics are then shipped to plastic collection point. A number of reports warn that the Earth is being buried in plastic waste. A 2015 study estimated that between 5 million to 13 million metric tons of plastic flood the oceans every year. “It’s about five plastic grocery bags filled with plastic for every foot of coastline in the world,” study leader Professor Jenna Jambeck told the journal Science. And researchers predict the waters could be swimming with more plastic than fish by the year 2050. This was embodied by the grisly discovery of a beached whale in the Philippines just last weekend; the animal died with 88 pounds of plastic trash inside its body, including 16 rice sacks and grocery store bags. And this plastic trash is ending up in our own stomachs, too. A 2017 Belgian report estimated that Europeans choke down up to 11,000 tiny pieces of plastic in their food every year. That same year, U.K. and Malaysian researchers found that 16 store-bought sea salts from 16 countries were seasoned with plastic fragments, filaments and film. So more companies are ramping up their sustainability efforts. Nestle, Procter & Gamble and PepsiCo joined the Loop shopping platform announced at the World Economic Forum in January, which will scrap disposal containers for many foods, toiletries, cleaning products and diapers to package them in reusable containers, instead. Similar to the way a milkman used to bring fresh milk in clean glass bottles — while also picking up the empty bottles from each home to be washed and refilled — the Loop system would see customers placing their empty, reusable Haagen Daz pints, Pantene shampoo bottles and Tide detergent containers outside of their doors to be picked up, washed and refilled. Tom Szaky, CEO of the Trenton, New Jersey-based international recycling company TerraCycle, which is behind Loop, told the Associated Press that, “Removing plastics from the ocean is not enough. We need to get at the whole idea of disposability and single-use items.” Maryland’s state House of Delegates passed a bill last week that would ban Styrofoam containers, CNBC reported; if signed by the governor, this would make it the first state to ban polystyrene foam containers and cups. Cities such as Seattle, Minneapolis and NYC have already rolled out Styrofoam bans. Dunkin’ Donuts has also pledged to dump its Styrofoam cups by 2020. Plus, these eco-friendly moves can make businesses plenty of green — particularly from millennials. While 66% of global respondents told Nielsen in 2015 that they’re willing to pay more for products and services that come from companies committed to positive social and environmental impact, a whopping 73% of millennials (born between 1977 and 1995, per Nielsen) were willing to shell out more for sustainability.<doc-sep>
That complimentary bar of soap has another life after you leave your hotel room. If you don’t end up taking it with you (which, it’s totally fine to steal your toiletries), hotels still have to replace the bar. Because who wants used soap after a long journey? Other than chucking it in the garbage, which lots of hotels have done in the past, some opt to recycle their unused soaps in order to help keep the little bars out of landfills and potentially help keep people healthy around the globe. And Hilton Hotels has just launched an initiative to save the planet, one bar at a time. Hotel soap bars Credit: Thurtell/Getty Images According to CNN Business, Hilton Hotels is teaming up with Clean the World, an organization that collects used soaps from hotels, melts them down, sanitizes them, and creates brand new bars of soap for people in need. Hilton Hotels announced on Monday that it will collect used bars of soap from its hotels, including Embassy Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton, Homewood Suites and Home2 Suites, and turn them over to Clean the World for recycling, according to CNN Business. Clean the World not only makes recycled soap, but also hygiene kits for homeless shelters around the world. Hilton has done other environmentally conscious initiatives in the past as well. In 2018, the company launched a plan to reduce its carbon emissions by 61 percent by looking into reducing plastic (including removing straws from hotels), and reducing water consumption. The hotel has even teamed up with other charities in the past to recycle its soap, according to CNN Business.