At The Refinishing Touch we’re always on the lookout for new ways to save the environment and give to back the community at the same time. So when we heard about Clean the World, we were happy to hear about people who share our commitment and point of view.
Shawn Seipler was just an ordinary business traveler from Florida. Then one day, during a stay in a Minneapolis hotel, he questioned what many of us have probably thought in passing: what happens to his barely used bar of soap after checkout? After rounds of informal hotel polls, Seipler learned that the fate of used hotel toiletries was primarily the same—the landfill. And according to the Environmental Protection Agency, that equates to almost 200 million tons of solid waste per year for the hospitality industry.
And within the land of unused hotel soaps and toiletries was where Seipler and his friend, Paul Till, found an opportunity. In 2009, the ‘Clean the World’ organization opened its doors with the goal of improving the environment and sanitation in developing countries. 
After three years of business, Seipler, Till and ‘Clean the World’ have distributed more than 10 million bars of soap in 45 countries worldwide, and their facilities in Orlando, Florida alone are processing more than 40,000 bars of soap a day.
While there is still a long way to go in recycling every hotel soap and barely-used toiletry, ‘Clean the World’ has already partnered with almost 1,300 hotel and lodgings in North America and Puerto Rico and continues to partner with new hotels regularly.
To learn more about ‘Clean the World’, donate, or find hotels participating in the program, visit cleantheworld.org.