People are just realising what happens to half-used hotel soap and their minds are blown – but not in a good way
PEOPLE are only just realising what happens to used hotel soap bars and it’s blowing their minds.
Science Insider visited a recycled soap factory and shared what they found.
It turns out that the used soap bars are broken down, disinfected and moulded into new ones.
“Hotels throw out millions of bars of used soap every week,” a Science Insider reporter said. “But they don’t have to go in the trash.
“Today Shawn Seipler’s company, Clean The World, runs a factory that can handle thousands of bars an hour.
“The used soap comes from thousands of hotels around the world.”
In the factory, a giant machine grates the used bars and removes any dirt and hair left on the surface.
The machine, called a Refiner, then pushes the broken-down soap out in noddle-like shapes.
The mini soap noodles are then heated with water and bleach for eight minutes to kill bacteria.
“A conveyor brings the sterilised mix to a final refiner before it gets molded,” the reporter explained.
“A long bar of recycled soap rolls out from the extruder and as it’s cut into individual bars.”
And while people were all for the sustainability aspect of the recycled soap bars, they couldn’t get their head round the fact somebody else may have used that exact bit of soap before.
“Dirt and hair is removed?” one questioned. “I don’t want anything that’s touched someone’s dirt or hair.
“I’ll bring my own.”
“What do y’all think the pube per square inch of soap ratio is?” another crudely asked.
“Don’t worry, all the pubes and dead skin cells act as exfoliating agents in the recycled soap bars!” a third grimly joked.
However, the initiative behind the recycled soap bar is one working to improve the world.
Clean The World has distributed more than 45 million bars of soap to children and families in 127 countries worldwide since the project started in 2009.