You know those lovely luxurious little hotel soaps you find in the bathroom of any hotel.. they are only used a few times before being left behind and thrown away to end up in landfills… and it is such a pity…

However, I am so excited and thrilled that Sunway Hotels & Resorts has now found a more sustainable way to repurpose these used soaps and also help communities in need… thats killing 2 birds with one stone…

Sunway Hotels & Resorts group, today, presented 1,000 bars of repurposed soap to Pertubuhan Kebajikan Anak Yatim Darul Ehsan Malaysia (PKAYDEM), under Yayasan Islam Darul Ehsan (YIDE), to kick start the home’s social enterprise project…

The Soapful project, which I am still at awe of – is a collaboration with various project partners – Ecolab Sdn Bhd, Kinder Soaps Sdn Bhd and the Selangor Youth Community (SAY).

The repurposed soaps are made from some 100 kgs of leftover soaps from Sunway Hotels & Resort group’s located all over Sunway City – Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa, Sunway Pyramid Hotel and Sunway Clio Hotel, which were collected since July this year….

In 2019, this project will include the other five (5) hotels nationwide namely Sunway Putra Hotel, Sunway Velocity Hotel, Sunway Hotel Georgetown, Sunway Hotel Seberang Jaya and The Banjaran Hotsprings Retreat.

Ecolab help facilitates the collection of all the used soap bars from the hotels, which will then be delivered to Kinder Soaps’ processing lab to be repurposed into new bars of soap, following stringent standard operating procedures that adhere to safety and environment standards. Kinder Soaps will also be teaching and guiding selected homes on the processes of repurposing used soaps. At the end of the one-year project, the aim is for the home to be able to produce their own repurposed soaps for personal use and to be sold as part of their social enterprise programmes at charity sales, community markets and other social platforms….

Sunway Hotels & Resorts will also be working with a new beneficiary selected by SAY. SAY is a long-term partner in this project who will continue to identify the subsequent beneficiaries of this project based on its capacity and to be included as part of their social enterprise programme.

The Sunway Hotels & Resorts’ #SunwayForGood #SunwaySoapful project was conceptualised to deliver benefits to the environment, society, and the economy in alignment with the hospitality group’s commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) which aims to drive sustainable progress that leaves no one behind.

First, by removing soap waste from the landfills. Second, it helps the home reduce cost as the repurposed soap bars are also meant for their personal use. Third, it helps the children cultivate meaningful business skills that will help them break the cycle of poverty. And fourthly, it is Sunway Hotels & Resorts
hope that besides utilising the income for their daily needs the children will use these life skills to start their own business and pursue social mobility, or even employ other youths in the future..

Sunway Hotels & Resorts had readily repurposed the 1,000 bars of soap to kick-start the social enterprise.

For the next phase of the project, the group will continue to collect used soaps from across the hotels in raw form to be delivered straight to the home which is estimated to be about 720kgs of soap each year, which can be repurposed into approximately 7,200 bars of 100g soaps to sustain the social enterprise project….

Royal Patron of SAY, DYTM Raja Muda Selangor Tengku Amir Shah Ibni Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah Alhaj, who graced the event today, said SAY selected PKAYDEM as the first beneficiary orphanage for the project as it is one of the orphanages that is most in need of help in the state of Selangor.
To prepare the children for the second phase of the programme, we were witness to how Ecolab demonstrated the proper hand washing procedures during the event, which is an important step before starting the soap making process to ensure no bacteria is passed on, making it safe for personal use before continuing to do the five-step process which involves grating, mashing, melting, molding, cutting and packaging..

Previously, Sunway Hotels & Resorts’ had implemented the #SunwayForGood #ZeroFoodWastage programme which saw the group of hotels collecting surplus food daily from its food and beverage establishments to feed the urban poor. The ongoing project is anticipated to serve 17,657 individuals from the B40 groups this year.

The community programmes are in line with Sunway’s pledge to create a positive and far-reaching impact on the nation under the banner of #SunwayForGood, aligned with Sunway’s commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

For more info check out www.sunwayhotels.com