Derreck Kayongo Turns Old Hotel Soap Into New Soap

Every year, American hotels throw away 800 million almost-full bars of soap. You know the drill--you wake up in the morning away from all the hustle and bustle of your regular life, peel off the paper wrapper on that bar of soap in the tub, and leave it there. Then, just like magic, there's a new one when you come back at the end of the day. Housekeeping has destroyed the old one because after one use, it's naturally no longer of any use to you any more.

That is a dumb thing we do.

While we're busy throwing away enough soap for every man, woman, and child in this country to take one really long bath every week for a year, over 2 million children in Africa are dying every year from sanitation issues. In the first world, we treat soap like any other single use disposable, using once before replacing it the next day.

Many of these children live in refugee camps where soap is actually non-existent. Where poverty doesn't mean not having enough money to afford Christmas dinner--it means not being able to wash your hands--ever.

Derrick Kayongo wanted to change this dumb thing we do and turn it into an opportunity. To turn this incredible amount of waste into a great opportunity. Kayongo was honored as part of Sunday's CNN Heroes event for starting the Global Soap Project.

The Global Soap Project works with over 300 hotels, including a recently announced partnership with Hilton, to source large batches of soap, clean them, melt them, process them, and turn them into new soap. They take a chunk of those 800 million bars of soap that would otherwise end up in landfills every year and turn them into new soap for people who need it.  All new soap is tested by a third party facility to make sure that they're clean and safe to use. Vulnerable populations in Haiti, Uganda, Swaziland, Kenya, Ghana and St. Lucia. Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and South Sudan have all been on the receiving end of Kayongo's generosity, and of the generosity of the many who make his mission possible.

That's how we fix the SUDs problem.

The real conundrum is this: we all create waste from single use disposables. Whether its soap or straws, napkins or plastic bottles, plastic bags or coffee cups. If one man can see the possibility not only to divert that waste from a landfill but to turn it into lifesaving soap for people who need it, what are the rest of us missing? Why can't we see the value in everything we're using once before we throw it away