Hilton Worldwide has extended its global soap recycling initiative to all 10 of its properties in Japan. Facilitated through its global RePurpose program, the initiative aligns with the company’s commitment to diverting waste from landfills through reuse, recycling, and donations.
Hilton has partnered with Hong Kong–based Soap Cycling, Asia’s first soap recycling non-profit organization, and JTB Trading, Inc., which sponsors the collection and shipping of recovered soap to Hong Kong.
“This initiative reinforces our efforts to reduce waste output and strengthen communities-two core pillars of our global corporate responsibility strategy,” says Timothy Soper, vice president of operations for Japan, Korea, and Micronesia for Hilton Worldwide. “Through this commitment, we aim to increase environmental awareness and personal ownership among our stakeholders, and enable our guests to make sustainable choices when they travel.”
Soap Cycling thoroughly sanitizes, processes, and molds soap into new bars and then works with a network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to distribute the soap to underprivileged populations in Asia.
Hilton Worldwide’s 1,000-strong housekeeping team in Japan has already collected 2.3 tons of soap from more than 5,300 hotel rooms across the country since starting the initiative last October. This created 20,000 new bars of soap, some of which were directed towards communities affected by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
Hilton properties in Japan participating in the soap-recycling program are Conrad Tokyo, Hilton Odawara, DoubleTree by Hilton Naha, Hilton Osaka, Hilton Fukuoka Sea Hawk, Hilton Tokyo, Hilton Nagoya, Hilton Tokyo Bay, Hilton Niseko Village, and Hilton Tokyo Narita Airport.
Hilton Worldwide began its partnership with U.S.-based Global Soap Project (GSP) in 2011. Since then, well over 120 tons of soap have been recovered from some 700 Hilton hotels and donated to GSP and other recycling organizations, creating more than one million new bars of soap for people in disadvantaged communities.
