Hilton Lathers Up Soap Recycling Programme To Support Communities In Need
London, U.K. - Hilton (NYSE: HLT) is launching the UK's largest ever soap recycling programme to reduce waste going to landfill and help communities in need.
In partnership with Clean the World, Hilton hotels in the UK will divert 64 tons of waste from landfill every year, creating more than 700,000 new bars to distribute to those in need. This expansion of Hilton's industry-leading soap recycling programme is a major step towards Hilton's goal to recycle 100% of its leftover soap bars.
Globally, as many as five million partially-used bars of soap are thrown away in hotel rooms every day, while thousands of people die due to lack of access to basic sanitation. Clean the World seeks to provide solutions to both problems by recycling waste soap and providing new bars to families who would otherwise go without.
More than 100 hotels across the country will join the soap recycling initiative to support Hilton's Travel with Purpose 2030 Goals to halve its environmental footprint - including specific targets to send zero soap to landfill and reduce waste output by 50% - as well as double its social impact investment.
Simon Vincent, Executive Vice President and President, EMEA, Hilton said: "It is our responsibility to protect our natural resources and ensure destinations across the world are preserved for generations to come. The expansion of our soap recycling programme not only helps us to reach our environmental goals, but also contributes towards tackling the significant hygiene epidemic which sees around 3,600 children under five die every day due to lack of access to clean soap and water."
Hilton's soap recycling efforts in Europe will be supported by a new Clean the World facility, which opened in Amsterdam last year. From 2020, this facility will recycle soap from Hilton's hotels in the UK and 17 countries across Continental Europe.
"Partnering with brands such as Hilton helps us to deliver much-needed hygiene supplies to children and families in times of need," says Shawn Seipler, founder and chief executive officer, Clean the World. "We are thrilled to expand our existing partnership to Hilton's hotels across Europe, as it will enable us to take another important step forward in our fight against hygiene-related illnesses."
This new development in Europe adds to Hilton's decade-long soap recycling programme, which is already the largest in the hospitality industry. To date, the company has helped create 11 million new bars - enough to wash two billion hands.
To meet its target to reduce waste output by 50% by 2030, Hilton has also already banned plastic straws, cocktail picks and stirrers at all its hotels globally. To bolster this commitment, the company is also continuing to transition from single-use toiletries, with the majority of rooms around the world set to feature full-size amenity dispensers by the end of 2020.
Earlier this year, Hilton set up regional task forces to explore more ways to reduce single-use plastic in hotels. In Europe, Middle East and Africa, the group comprises hotel and corporate leaders across a range of business disciplines who continue to test and scale new environmentally-friendly alternatives for hotel operations.
Notes to editors
In Europe, Hilton will partner with Clean the World to recycle soap bars from hotels in Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.
Soap bar recycling will be a compulsory brand standard from 30th June 2020 for Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, LXR Hotels & Resorts, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, Canopy by Hilton, Signia Hilton, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Curio Collection by Hilton, DoubleTree by Hilton, and Tapestry Collection by Hilton.
About Travel with Purpose
Travel with Purpose is Hilton's corporate responsibility strategy to redefine and advance sustainable travel globally. By 2030, we plan to double our social impact investment and cut our environmental footprint by half. We track, analyze and report our environmental and social impact at each of Hilton's nearly 6,000 hotels through LightStay, our award-winning performance measurement system. Travel with Purpose capitalizes on Hilton's global scale to catalyze local economic growth; promote human rights; invest in people and local communities; and preserve our planet by reducing our impact on natural resources. Our strategy aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Visit cr.hilton.com to learn more.
About Clean the World
Clean the World is a social enterprise dedicated to WASH (water, sanitization, and hygiene) and sustainability. It operates soap recycling centers and offices in Orlando, Montreal, Las Vegas, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Washington D.C. and Punta Cana and leads a "Global Hygiene Revolution" to distribute recycled soap and hygiene products from more than 8,000 hotel, resort and cruise partners. Clean the World's foundation provides WASH (water, sanitization, and hygiene) programming to benefit global communities with high pre-adolescent death rates due to acute respiratory infection (pneumonia) and diarrheal diseases (cholera) - which are two of the top killers of children under the age of five. Since 2009, the foundation has served over 10 million individuals and distributed 50 million bars of soap and 5 million hygiene kits in 127 countries. More information: CleantheWorld.org.
About Hilton
Hilton (NYSE: HLT) is a leading global hospitality company with a portfolio of 18 world-class brands comprising more than 6,800 properties and more than 1 million rooms, in 122 countries and territories. Dedicated to fulfilling its founding vision to fill the earth with the light and warmth of hospitality, Hilton has welcomed more than 3 billion guests in its more than 100-year history, earned a top spot on the 2021 World's Best Workplaces list and been recognized as a global leader on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices for five consecutive years. In 2021, in addition to opening more than one hotel a day, Hilton introduced several industry-leading technology enhancements to improve the guest experience, including Digital Key Share, automated complimentary room upgrades and the ability to book confirmed connecting rooms. Through the award-winning guest loyalty program Hilton Honors, the nearly 128 million members who book directly with Hilton can earn Points for hotel stays and experiences money can't buy. With the free Hilton Honors app, guests can book their stay, select their room, check in, unlock their door with a Digital Key and check out, all from their smartphone. Visit newsroom.hilton.com for more information, and connect with Hilton on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.
