Great George Hotel, Hotel on Pownal join guest soap recycling program

Two Charlottetown hotels have joined a program that collects and recycles leftover guest soap, shampoo and body lotion to be used in hygiene kits.

The Clean the World program assembles thekits and distributes themto homeless shelters, seniors citizens and others in need across North America.

The Great George Hotel and the Hotel onPownalbecame part of theprogram this week.

"We have so many guests that stay one night, that the soap literally can get used once or twice, and then most of it goes directly into the garbage," said Rachel Vidito, general manager of the Great George Hotel.

Recycling soap

The soap is collected and tested by SGS North America, a Florida state-certified testing facility. SGS purposely infects the soap, which is then run through the standard Clean the World recycling process.

All pathogens are removed from the soap in the process.

The recycled soap is also sent to areas around the world where there is a high risk of hygiene-related illness.

The program provides partners with recycling containers to collect the soap and bottled amenitieslikeshampoo, conditioner, and body wash. When the containers are full, the hotels send them back to Clean the World for processing.

Since 2009, Clean the World has distributed nearly 70,000 hygiene kits.The goal of the program is to help fight the spread of preventable diseases.

It also aimsto help the environment by reducing hotel waste.