Eco Soap Bank: Fighting for the Planet & People

Protecting our planet and the people who live here is a team effort. Here at Reel Paper, we like to give shout outs to other great sustainable brands striving to make the Earth a healthier, happier planet. Eco Soap Bank is one such eco-friendly brand at the forefront of sustainable hygiene and humanitarian work.

Not only does Eco Soap Bank produce earth-safe recycled soaps, but also this awesome brand is dedicated to serving several humanitarian issues and fighting the growing threat of climate change.

Here is everything you need to know about our inspiring friends over at Eco Soap Bank and how to support their mission!

The Mission

The ingenious people over at Eco Soap Bank recognize that in order to save people, we need to save the planet. At the same time, though, saving the planet starts with helping those most in need. That's why Eco Soap Bank's mission is two fold.

A Humanitarian Crisis

For people in developing countries face several obstacles that we in the first world can't even imagine – like lacking indoor bathroom facilities or bathing and washing their hands with harsh laundry detergent.

In these countries, poor hygiene is a real and pressing danger. In fact, according to the CDC, diseases spread through contaminated water, inadequate sanitation, and poor hygiene cause around 1.6 million deaths per year.

While death is an extreme but real consequence of poor hygiene, children missing school is a much more common harmful side effect. Data provided by UNICEF shows that several developing countries struggle with low net-attendance rates in schools.

Some of these countries even have attendance rates as low as 3, 4, or 5%, which means children are missing out on the learning opportunities that could give them a brighter future..

An Environmental Emergency

There's something ironic about soap winding up in a landfill. Although many of us are often unaware of it, this is the unfortunate fate for most of our mini-sized hotel toiletries.

For sanitation purposes, hotels can't reuse soap from one guest to the next. This means that the mini bars, which have only been used a handful of times and have barely had a chance to shrink get thrown out.

Now, Eco Soap Bank is partnering with popular tourist destinations in the third world to reduce the waste. For example, Eco Soap Bank works with several hotels in Cambodia, which draws in more than 5 million tourists every year.

All of those tourists have to stay somewhere, and fancy hotels tend to throw out a lot of unused soap. Before those bars end up in a landfill or polluting natural waters with their soapy suds, Eco Soap Bank is putting them to better use.

Eco Soap Bank Solutions

Eco Soap Bank crafts quality soap that also helps the environment. What's better than that?

The process begins by collecting used soap – mostly from hotels – and then sanitizing and processing the bars into pristine, recycled soap that is once again safe for human use.

As part of their mission, Eco Soap Bank hires women from the local community and trains them in soap making. This allows these amazing women to do meaningful work and take home steady, fair wages.

Once the soap is ready to be used, Eco Soap Bank moves on to satisfying the second half of its mission: improving the standards of living for people in developing, third-world countries.

Eco Soap Bank distributes its bars to clinics, schools, and communities in need – particularly those suffering from the ramifications of inadequate hygiene.

As a bonus, with each soap donation, Eco Soap Bank teaches children and other community members how to properly wash their hands. Soap and hygiene education keep children in school, keep the community safe from preventable illnesses, and keep the next generation growing healthier, stronger, and smarter.

Revolutionizing the hygiene industry through waste-reducing soap, immunity-boosting education, and life-changing employment: this is Eco Soap Bank.

The work that Eco Soap Bank has undertaken will continue to have a monumental impact on the environment by significantly reducing the waste produced by tourism in developing countries.

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