Sunshine Matters

On Wednesday, September 5, in conjunction with the Florida Governor’s Conference on Tourism, industry members came together to participate in an informative corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity at Clean the World.  The purpose of CSR events is to embrace responsibility for the organization’s actions and encourage a positive impact through its activities on the environment, consumers, communities, employees, stakeholders and all other members of the public sphere.  While visiting for our annual conference, VISIT FLORIDA wanted to organize an event that would provide attendees with an opportunity to give back to our host community, Orlando.

We decided on Clean the World, a unique, not-for-profit organization whose mission is two-fold: to reduce the waste created by discarded soap and shampoo products and prevent the millions of deaths caused by hygiene-related illnesses every year.  The 15,000 square-foot facility in downtown Orlando serves as their headquarters where they collect, sort and process soap from neighboring hotel partners.  Through re-batching, the soap is cooked to remove all impurities and then re-formed into 2-ounce bars.  Clean the World then tests the soap’s pH level and cools it for repackaging.  The finished soaps are sent to domestic homeless shelters and impoverished countries suffering from high death rates due to infection and disease.

Every 10 seconds a child will die from a disease that could have been prevented with soap.  In an effort to stop this from occuring, Clean the World has recycled ten million soap bars and 160,000 pounds of shampoo and conditioner, simultaneously diverting 700 tons of waste.  The Orlando Recycling Center processes 40,000 bars of soap daily, with other centers opening soon.

Conference attendees from around the Sunshine State joined forces to leave a positive mark on Orange County.  Tourism industry partners, along with VISIT FLORIDA committee and board members, participated in helping clean 2,700 bars of soap.  We all left knowing that we helped make a difference in many children’s lives.

A BIG thank you to those who dedicated their time and worked hard to help Clean the World.  For more information on this organization, visit cleantheworld.org. We look forward to seeing you at next year’s CSR event!