On Tuesday 24 June, Soap Aid had the honour of presenting at the Sustainability: Good For Business workshop, hosted by Tourism Greater Geelong and The Bellarine!
The event, held in the Western Beach Room at Deakin Waterfront, brought together local businesses interested in advancing their sustainability practices and environmental impact.
Carol Bellew, General Manager at Soap Aid, delivered a presentation designed specifically for businesses operating in the Greater Geelong and Bellarine area.
The session began with an overview of Soap Aid’s mission and our Hotel to Hands (H2H) circular economy model, which transforms discarded accommodation soap into life-saving hygiene soap bars. We then explored how choosing hard soap bars can make an enormous difference in local environment. Participants were shown the environmental disadvantage of using liquid soap packaged in plastic, including increased waste and emissions, and were encouraged to consider hard soap as a 100% recyclable, zero-impact alternative.
We concluded the presentation by sharing both the environmental and humanitarian impacts of Soap Aid’s H2H Programme. Environmental metrics demonstrated the scale of waste diverted from landfill, while humanitarian metrics illustrated the global reach of our soap distribution and the lives improved through increased access to hygiene.
We thank Tourism Greater Geelong and The Bellarine for the opportunity to engage with local businesses and demonstrate how sustainable choices in amenities can support both environmental responsibility and global health outcomes.
Soap Aid is incredibly pleased to partner with Rydges Pit Lane Hotel through our Hotel to Hands soap recycling program. Our partnership means that we can lives together through the diversion of waste soap from landfill and the distribution of our recycled soap, with hygiene education materials, to vulnerable communities in Australia, New Zealand and overseas.
“At Rydges Pit Lane, we are committed to sustainability across all aspects of our operations, and we take this responsibility seriously. Our goal is to minimize our ecological impact while providing a comfortable guest experience. Here are some of the key sustainability initiatives we’ve implemented:
Energy Efficiency: We’ve switched to energy-saving LED lights, including floodlights and motion-sensor lights that automatically turn off when not in use. Additionally, the hotel has invested in solar energy systems.
Water Conservation: We have an off-grid system that uses alternative water sources to reduce dependence on community water supplies.
Waste Reduction: Our kitchen regularly donates excess food to FoodBank, helping to reduce food waste and support those in need.
Eco-Friendly Amenities: We provide guests with bulk amenities in biodegradable bottles and packaging. We use BioPak cups and all of our takeaway items are biodegradable. We also encourage the use of reusable water jugs to minimize plastic waste and limit plastic use with C&E.
Digital Compendium: We are in the process of launching an online compendium accessible via QR code in guest rooms, reducing paper waste and offering easy access to hotel information.
Reduced Stationery Usage: EVT introduced an initiative to reduce paper waste, by limiting to a maximum of seven paper items, such as door signs, coasters, and pens in guest rooms.
Go Green Room Refresh: Guests staying for more than one night can opt out of a room refresh in exchange for a $10 food & beverage voucher. This initiative reduces linen usage and water waste from washing.
We think Soap Aid is a great program; it aligns with our commitment to social responsibility by ensuring that unused soaps are repurposed and redistributed to communities in need. By participating, we’re not only helping reduce waste but also contributing to improving hygiene standards in disadvantaged communities.
Soap recycling helps reduce waste going into landfills, which supports our broader sustainability goals. It’s a small change that creates a significant positive environmental impact. The program is an effective way to give back to the community, and we believe it reflects our values of kindness and care.”
Thank you Rydges Pit Lane for your ongoing commitment to the environment through the use of hard bar soap at the basin, and choosing to give these little bars an extra life through our soap recycling program!
Interested in making a commitment to an environmental and humanitarian cause? Join our Hotel to Hands soap recycling program today, register your accommodation here.
Every little bar makes a difference, and we could not do it without our Soap Aid Champions!
Soap Aid is very pleased to announce our new partnership with Bidet Warehouse.
At Bidet Warehouse we are serious about hygiene: not just yours or ours but for people everywhere. So that’s why we wanted to ensure when our customers washed their b**ts, they could rest assured that somewhere, someone was washing their hands with soap-aid, thanks to them and their purchase.
As a family-owned company, we take philanthropy seriously so when we heard about the amazing work of Soap Aid we couldn’t wait to get on board. Straight away we could see the alignment of hygiene health and the shared goal of making a difference.
From the smallest of our offerings – our travel bidets to our amazing smart bidet toilet seats, every sale comes with a donation to Soap Aid. Bidets can help remove faecal bacteria and keep your hands cleaner and while it’s a bit of a third world issue bidets can enable the user to move seamlessly from mobile phone scrolling while contemplating on the throne to washing. They can also help prevent the spread of bacteria from your hands to other people. And we know the importance of improved hygiene. So, you can see why Bidet Warehouse and Soap Aid are a natural fit. We invite you to visit our website Bidet Warehouse – to see just how passionate we are about supporting Soap Aid and making it possible for Aussie’s to get the Bidet Warehouse cleanliness and “fresh feeling” that a bathroom or travel bidet can deliver.
We are beyond thrilled to have won the Community Achievement Awards Australia 2024 in the Community Group Award category.
Thank you so much, Awards Australia, for this incredible honour.
A huge thank you to our amazing supporters, accommodation partners, community impact partners, and the incredible Soap Aid team! Together, we’re turning discarded soap into hope—improving hygiene for vulnerable communities and protecting our planet. 🌏🧼
Australia’s leading private hotel group has incorporated Soap Aid into its sustainability program for over a decade.
The hotel industry is very vocal about the need for sustainability, but few hotel groups actually follow through on their words.
However, Dr Jerry Schwartz’s hotel group has proven an exception through its commitment to adopting renewable energy, supporting community charities, and managing waste, including being a major contributor to Soap Aid.
Today, the Schwartz Family Company is Australia’s largest privately owned hotel group, with 15 hotels and over 4000 rooms operating in NSW, Queensland, Victoria and the ACT.
The portfolio includes many renowned hotels including Sofitel Sydney Darling Harbour, Fairmont Resort Blue Mountains, Rydges Resort Hunter Valley, Hilton Surfers Paradise, Paradise Resort Gold Coast and Mercure Canberra.
In addition, Dr Schwartz operates an award-winning craft brewery operation, a conference centre, luxe spas and Sydney Seaplanes.
In 2001, Dr Schwartz established the Schwartz Foundation, a registered charity that supports projects in Australia and overseas, including medical research, children’s charities and homelessness services.
He is equally committed to environmental sustainability, establishing two 5MW solar plants on his property adjacent to the Rydges Resort Hunter Valley. The two plants are now producing enough energy to cover the output of all his hotels across NSW and still return additional energy to the grid.
Jerry Schwartz with his new solar panel farm in the Hunter Valley
The Schwartz hotels are prominent in being recognised for sustainability best practices, with certification from NABERS and Ecotourism Australia.
Dr Schwartz first became involved with Soap Aid over a decade ago. Back then, most hotels offered guests soap bars, which were barely used by guests, leaving his hotels with the issue of how to dispose of the waste.
His solution was to sign up with Soap Aid to collect the partially used soap. The drivers delivering craft beer from his Sydney Brewery would pick up the soap and return the bars to a central depot at Rydges Sydney World Square. This not only made it easier for Soap Aid to collect the consolidated soap, but it also ensured that no unnecessary fuel was consumed in the exercise.
Covid-19 did alter the amount of soap and other toiletries offered in hotel rooms, with dispensers replacing soap bars in many locations.
However, Sofitel Sydney Darling Harbour still offers guests a generous selection of beautiful soaps, and as a result, 2,815kg of used soap has been collected since the hotel joined up with Soap Aid in 2018.
Sofitel Sydney Darling Harbour room attendant Su Jeon Jo and Executive Housekeeper Karolina Sadalska
The scheme’s success is due in large part to Sofitel’s Executive Housekeeper, Karolina Sadalska, who leads this sustainability initiative within the hotel.
“We have been proud partners with Soap Aid for the past six years, with only a brief interruption during the pandemic,” said Karolina. “Over the years, our team has remained deeply committed to promoting sustainability and environmental responsibility. Recycling, sustainability, and other environmental initiatives are integral to our culture and are included in our onboarding process to ensure every team member understands their importance from day one.
“In addition, we host a monthly ‘Wellness Wednesday’ event where we focus on team well-being and highlight one of our key sustainability initiatives. Soap Aid is a key feature of this, and we make sure we recognise their impactful work as part of our ongoing commitment to environmental stewardship.”
Dr Schwartz said it was a “natural” to support an organisation like Soap Aid, and he believed that more hotel groups could introduce sustainability measures to reduce their environmental footprint.
“Hotels need to be holistic in terms of how they operate, and sustainability should be a priority of every hotel operation,” said Dr Schwartz.
“Most hotels use a huge amount of energy and generate a significant amount of waste, but that can be mitigated against.
“Soap Aid is an obvious way of addressing waste while also benefiting the community. I’ve been involved with many overseas medical initiatives, so to know that Soap Aid is potentially saving lives by providing a cleaning aid for children in developing countries is rewarding for myself and the hotel teams.
“The Soap Aid commitment is part of a multifaceted sustainability program that is really making a difference to the way we operate. Installing solar plants in the Hunter Valley and rooftop panels across many of our city properties has made us nearly self-sufficient in energy use, and every time we renovate a hotel, we look at ways of making the property more environmentally sustainable.”
We are thrilled to share that Soap Aid has emerged as a winner at the Social Traders 2024 Victoria and Tasmania Game Changer Awards! 🏆✨
This remarkable achievement celebrates our commitment to creating positive change in the world. As a certified social enterprise, Soap Aid has consistently pushed boundaries, seeking innovative solutions to address pressing health and environmental challenges.
From recycling discarded hotel soap bars to empowering communities with hygiene education, our impact has been extraordinary. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to every supporter who helps us to achieve our vision. Together, we will continue to challenge the status quo and ensure that vulnerable communities have access to critically needed soap —one soap bar at a time.
