A Vancouver, Canada – based charity is using discarded lotions and soaps from hotels in the British Colombia area to recycle them as a means of donating to underprivileged and battered women around the globe.
On Monday, the charity – Mission Possible – will launch a large soap recycling scheme at their base on Powell Street. The Downtown Eastside charity shop will look to recover unwanted amenities from hotels in the area, said Brian Postlewait, Mission Possible’s executive director. The soaps and bottles will be reused as part of a recycling programme and donated to homeless shelters both locally and internationally.
According to Postlewait, more than 3.5 million deaths occur worldwide each year from children under the age of five getting digestive and respiratory infections. Mr Postlewait added that 60 per cent of these infections could have been prevented with proper hand washing. Grace Edge, an employee working on the recycling project, said that having been on the streets herself, she understood what it was like to constantly feel dirty.
Ms Edge said that she now has two kids she sponsors in Africa and that the programme hits close to home for her. Boxes full of shampoos, lotions and soaps have been arriving from hotels around the area and the charity hopes to process up to 10,000 soap bars per day.
Participating hotels include the Holiday Inn, The Chateau Lake Louise in Alberta and the Delta Vancouver with many more signing up continually. Cristina Baldini, manager at The Beach Club Resort in Parkville said the opportunity makes good business sense as it is good for the environment and hotels want guests to know that they care about sustainability and being green.
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