Give Back Get Back: Light, Life, and a List

When I think about the hardly used bars of soap all of us incentive travel industry professionals leave behind in hotel rooms, I must admit that “lifesaving” doesn’t spring to my mind as an adjective. Luckily, the thought did occur to Shawn Seipler and Paul Till, co-founders of Clean the World. Founded in February 2009, Clean the World’s mission is combating hygiene-related illnesses that cause millions of deaths each year. Eighty percent of those deaths are of children under the age of five. Clean the World estimates that its products, distributed around the world and provided free of charge, will help cut the worldwide hygiene-related mortality rate by 30 to 60 percent. 

Based in Orlando, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit, charitable organization collects discarded soap and shampoo from hotels and arranges for them to be recycled and distributed worldwide. The supplies are sent to homeless shelters in the U.S. and to impoverished communities throughout the world. In 2009, Clean the World distributed more than 230 tons of hygienic goods to countries around the world, including Haiti, Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Uganda, Mali, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Mongolia, and Romania. The benefits of this corporate social responsibility (CSR) program are twofold: In additions to saving lives, it helps divert 348 tons of would-be landfill waste daily.

Seipler and Till were successful sales professionals before they started thinking about the CSR benefits of soap. During their many trips around the U.S., they calculated that more than 4.6 million hotel rooms in the country were depositing more than 1 million bars of soap into landfills every day. Seipler and Till decided to make a major change in their lives, by abandoning their careers and creating Clean the World. They had a vision to ”change history in our lifetime” by saving 1 million children each year. A visit to Haiti shortly thereafter made them realize they were on the right track and, as Seipler notes, brought the “crystal clear concept” of the CSR organization’s mission “to the heart.”

The cost (which is tax-deductible) to a participating hotel in Clean the World is nominal—0.65 cents per room per month. A wide range of hotels is already aboard the program. Two major meeting industry associations, Meeting Professionals International (MPI) and Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC), are partners, as is the Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau. At the recent MPI World Education Congress (WEC), in Vancouver, Seipler made a heartfelt video presentation that, I am sure, will have more hotels signing up for Clean the World. The Sutton Place Hotel Vancouver and the Vancouver Marriott Pinnacle Downtown were among the hotels that had already supported the initiative at the WEC.

Clean the World has entered into an exclusive three-year partnership with Gilchrist & Soames, a leading provider of high-quality toiletries for hotels, resorts, and spas. Their CSR venture has helped with funding for the expansion of Clean the World’s infrastructure and gives Gilchrist & Soames sole rights to offer organizations Clean the World’s toiletry recycling program to hotels worldwide. Any hotel property can, therefore, join the Clean the World program by contacting Gilchrist & Soames directly. 

The following links provide more information: for meeting and incentive planners and for hotels.

Solar lights a different kind of give-back gift!
It is hard to believe that nearly 2 billion people around the world still do not have access to electricity and, therefore, electric light. We take our light for granted, but in many countries, kerosene lamps are still the most readily available lighting source. Kerosene is not only hazardous, but it is a dirty fuel. According to a recent report by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, kerosene lanterns consume 1.3 million barrels of oil per day and emit 209 million tons of carbon dioxide per year, equivalent to that produced by 30 million cars.

With this in mind, Denver-based inventor Stephen Katsaros and his company Nokero are manufacturing a solar light lantern, called the N100. The portable, rainproof lamp are self-contained and highly durable and have extended battery life. Four solar panels charge the lamp, and each is said to have a useful life of five years, providing up to four hours of light on a single charge. They sell for approximately $10 to $15 each, depending on quantity, and are currently being used in approximately 30 countries. 

The lanterns are also brandable with your company logo, so they would make for a perfect donation for an incentive corporate social responsibility event in a destination where electricity is not readily available. One idea is to give the lamps to each incentive participant as a gift and then organize an event where the participants can personalize the lanterns, either individually or as a group to create a team-building event too. Participants can then give these lamps to an organization or to a community. It would make for a creative and unique event that would not only help a community but also provide a unique branding opportunity.

Green Glossary
I am often asked to define what certain words mean. This includes, sustainability, APEX, and CSR. The truth is that many definitions mean different things to different people, depending on their focus in the sustainability and/or meeting and incentive industry. I recently came across the Green Glossary on Travel Portland’s Web site. By courtesy of Meet Green, I am sharing it with you here to help shed a little more light on the subject!

Quote of the month

I will love the light for it shows me the way. Yet I will endure the darkness for it shows me the stars. —Og Mandino

Geraldine Gatehouse is an independent planner with a passionate belief in the value and potential global impact of CSR. She is based in southern California, continuing studies in the Sustainability Leadership Certificate program at UC Irvine and is the 2009/2010 VP of CSR on the Board of Site Southern California. She can be reached at geraldine-g@cox.net,her Web site, and LinkedIn. 

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