A unique Australian company is using a commonly discarded hotel item to combat hygiene-related illnesses around the world. Greg Navarro tells us more.
Inside a Melbourne warehouse, a transformation is taking place.
"How's the soap coming in today?"
Workers are giving discarded bars of soap donated from hotels a second life, one aimed at saving lives in some of the world's most remote communities.
CAROL BELLEW General Manager of Operations, Soap Aid Australia and New Zealand "A third of the world's population don't have access to soap - it's hard to believe but that is the case."
The World Health Organisation estimates that one and a half million children die each year from hygiene-related illnesses.
CAROL BELLEW General Manager of Operations, Soap Aid Australia and New Zealand "You are talking about things like pneumonia, diarrhoeal diseases, things like influenza, COVID for that matter - all of those are communicable and they are very easily passed on."
Doctors believe the spread of many of those illnesses can be reduced by more than 40% through regular hand washing.
That's why non-profit Soap Aid was founded in 2011, to help improve hygiene practices in remote and regional communities across the globe.
CAROL BELLEW General Manager of Operations, Soap Aid Australia and New Zealand "Even in Australia today there are people who can't afford to buy a bar of soap, and this is fundamental to a person's health and wellbeing."
Each bar of soap is scraped then fed into a machine that grinds and sanitizes, and reshapes them into new soap.
Each bar is inspected. Those that pass the test are boxed and eventually shipped.
GREG NAVARRO Melbourne "There are about 21 tonnes of soap on the shelves of the warehouse here - it's just a fraction of what Soap Aid has produced and distributed - 3 million bars of soap."
At least half a million people in 20 countries including Australia have benefitted from Soap Aid's work.
The work here is being done through a social enterprise organisation called The Bridge, which specializes in services for people with disabilities and from disadvantaged backgrounds.
MARY-JANE STOLP Chief Executive Officer, The Bridge "We are creating job opportunities for people who otherwise might not be able to work and we are also doing great work for the economy."
Since just about everything that comes in here is repurposed, Soap Aid's carbon footprint is very low.
CAROL BELLEW General Manager of Operations, Soap Aid Australia and New Zealand "So just that little, tiny bar of soap that you might throw into the bin in a hotel room translates itself into one of these brilliant bars of soap."
Which now have the potential to greatly impact the lives of people who desperately need them.
Greg Navarro, CGTN, Melbourne.
