Eco-Soap Bank is an American non-profit organization founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 2014.[1][2][3] The organization collects used soap from hotels located in Cambodia,[4] employs economically disadvantaged women to sanitize and process the soap into new bars at local hubs,[5] and partners with other organizations to distribute the soap to schools, communities, and health clinics.[3] Eco-Soap Bank also provides some soap to women in village communities and trains them as soap sellers.[1]
About
editEco-Soap Bank was founded by social entrepreneur Samir Lakhani in 2014.[6] While on a volunteer trip to Cambodia building fish ponds in remote villages, Lakhani saw a woman bathing her infant in laundry detergent, a hazardous substitute for soap.[5] After learning more about hygiene issues in the developing world, he contacted scientist friends and developed a technique to melt down, sterilize, and reprocess recycled soap bars into new composite bars of “eco-soap.”[5]
Eco-Soap Bank now employs 30 staff in several locations across Cambodia.[5] The organization is working to expand its reach to other developing countries with high mortality rates associated with hygiene-related illnesses.[4]
Mission
editEco-Soap Bank’s stated mission is to fight the spread of preventable illnesses caused by a lack of access to soap, to reduce the waste generated by the hotel industry, and to provide livelihoods to economically disadvantaged women.[6]
References
edit- ^ a b "Recycled soap helps kids fight poor hygiene in rural Cambodia". France 24. 4 November 2016. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
- ^ "Essential Pittsburgh: Mayor Peduto Welcomes Educational Summit and Bike Share System". WESA FM. 15 April 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
- ^ a b Don Hopey (12 April 2015). "Saving Cambodian lives with slivers of hotel soap". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
- ^ a b Kristina Marusic (10 November 2015). "Meet the 23-year-old Who's Saving Lives with Bars of Used Hotel Soap". MTV News. Archived from the original on November 18, 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
- ^ a b c d Finn Aberdein (2 November 2016). "The American student who gave Cambodian children a chance to get clean". BBC News Magazine. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
- ^ a b "Saving lives with recycled soap". BBC World Service. 27 October 2016. Retrieved 28 April 2017.