What happens to leftover bars of hotel soap?
If you’ve ever felt guilty about swiping a half-empty bottle of shampoo from your hotel bathroom or concealing a used bar of soap in your toilet bag, you didn’t need to. As long as you make use of them, and recycle the containers afterwards, you could be doing the best thing. An increasing number of hotels are trying to avoid unnecessary waste. Some have replaced individual bars of soap with refillable dispensers, while others give shampoos, conditioners and body lotions to shelters for the homeless and drug rehabilitation centres. Unfortunately, there are still hotels where opened bottles or partially used bars of soap are thrown away. ‘Marriott, Hilton, Starwood and Fairmont are among the chains that run amenity recycling schemes,’ says Claire Baker, editor of the Green Hotelier magazine. ‘But there are, of course, hotels that are less environmentally aware. If guests are unsure, they should ask.
