In just a few short years, Clean The World, an Orlando-based nonprofit, has grown from a local effort to an international organization aimed to redirect hotels’ toiletry waste from clogging landfills to providing soap and hygiene kits to those in need, with the ultimate goal of preventing deadly illnesses. Since its inception in February 2009, Clean The World (CTW) has collected and distributed over 15 million bars of soap to more than 70 countries worldwide, including Zimbabwe, Uganda, Haiti, and across the United States, according to John Terry, CTW corporate communications director.

In Central Florida, CTW has donated soap to The Salvation Army and Seminole County’s Families in Transition. “There’s a lot of help needed at home,” he said. “Food Stamps can’t be used to buy soap and personal hygiene products. That’s where we come in locally.” CTW collects soap through soap drives, donations from soap manufacturers, and from hotels through CTW’s Hospitality Partner Program. “The primary source of soap is from recycling,” Terry said. Used and unused soap and shampoo are saved by hotel staff and collected weekly by CTW, who transports the products to the CTW Recycling Center, where the used cleanser is sanitized of pathogens and diseases using a patent-pending process. The Orlando Recycling Center has the capability to process 80 bars per day, but none of that would be possible without the legions of volunteers, most of whom hail from local schools including University of Central Florida, Rollins College, Valencia College, and Evans High School.

“Many student organizations do soap drives as part of community service,” Terry said. “And student groups volunteer at our warehouse. There’s a lot of manual labor needed in sorting the soap.” Volunteer UCF, through the University of Central Florida, has been involved since 2011, after a group of students volunteered with the organization as part of Knights Give Back, an annual day of service promoted by the college. The group recycled 15,000 bars of soap that first day, said Shelby Olson, student director of Volunteer UCF. “Since then, we’ve had numerous students go over there and every time we recycle at least 10,000 bars of soap,” Olson said. “From that experience, we started to not only volunteer, but also hold soap drives and bring education to campus.”

In fact, the school hosted Soap Saves Lives in 2012, when CTW co-founder Oscar Gonzalez spoke to students about the organization’s important mission. Students packaged hygiene kits including soap, shampoo, and toothbrushes for local homeless shelters and for the victims of Hurricane Sandy. In August 2013, 50 students recycled an additional 15,000 bars of soap as part of Pegasus Palooza, an annual event hosted during the first week of the school year. Then, in October 2013, 100 students again volunteered for Knights Give Back. Olson estimates Volunteer UCF has recycled 100,000 bars of soap thus far during the university’s four-year volunteer span. “It’s grown so much since we started. It’s been a continual thing,” she said. “We’ve also seen the change in their process as it’s become more efficient, from hand-scraping dirty soap to a machine that does that now.”

This month, on March 25, Volunteer UCF is again undertaking work with CTW, followed by a CTW-inspired educational event on March 28. Additionally, Volunteer UCF is working with CTW for the International Alternative Spring Break, when a group of nine students and a faculty advisor will travel to Guatemala to donate soap on behalf of the organization. “It’s great how accommodating and supportive of our efforts they are,” Olson said.

Clean The World always welcomes new volunteers and donations to further their efforts. They’ve partnered with the ONE Project to provide groups with the ability to pack hygiene kits as part of a charity project. These kits include bar soap, bottled shampoo, conditioner, lotion, a toothbrush, toothpaste, a disposable washcloth, and an inspirational card. CTW also offers the Serve and Learn Program, a service learning program aimed at teaching students of all ages’ global sustainability and civic responsibility.

Through the program, which curricula specially-designed for elementary, middle, and high school levels, students can tour the Orlando Recycling Center and teachers can access classroom assignments. For more information, visit CleanTheWorld.org or call (407) 574-8353.