The Economics of Everyday Things 4. Used Hotel Soaps (Replay)
Sep 25, 2023
Explore the history and environmental impact of using hotel soaps. Learn how one man recycles them in his garage lab. Discover the impact of soap on handwashing and reducing child deaths. Uncover hidden insights from talking to people with first-hand knowledge. Find out how to gain access to private Facebook groups without violating privacy.
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Garage Origin Of A Soap Nonprofit
- Sean Seypler noticed hotel soap waste after travel and called a front desk to ask what happens to used bars.
- That call started him on the path to creating a soap-recycling nonprofit from his garage experiments.
Soap Is The Most Used Hotel Amenity
- Soap became the first hotel amenity as private baths arrived in rooms and then turned into an expected, heavily used offering.
- Cornell research found packaged soaps are used by 86% of guests, more than any other amenity.
Scraping Soap In A Garage
- Seypler and friends literally scraped and rebatched hotel soap in a garage using potato peelers and a meat grinder.
- A hotel general manager at Orlando airport agreed to let them collect all the used soap for recycling.