In 2009, Clean the World was born. It collects soaps and bottled goods from hotels (and charges them around 65 cents per month per room to participate) and reprocesses the soaps to be sent around the world. So far, more than 10 million bars of soap have been distributed to 48 countries, says Gomez. “That’s also 1.4 million pounds of hotel waste diverted from landfills,” he adds.

I’ve been reading some articles condemning “aid” as a developmental inhibitor for other countries. If a firm such as this gives soap away for free, it might discourage communities from investing in health and hygiene industry.

Nevertheless, I like the inventiveness of this idea. There are a lot of materials going to waste; we just have to find out how to use them sustainably.