Eco-Soap Bank is an American non-profit organization founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 2014.[1] [2] [3] The organization collects used soap from hotels located in Cambodia,[4] employs economically disadvantaged women to sanitize and process the soap into new bars at local hubs,[5] and partners with other organizations to distribute the soap to schools, communities, and health clinics. Eco-Soap Bank also provides some soap to women in village communities and trains them as soap sellers.
Eco-Soap Bank was founded by social entrepreneur Samir Lakhani in 2014.[6] While on a volunteer trip to Cambodia building fish ponds in remote villages, Lakhani saw a woman bathing her infant in laundry detergent, a hazardous substitute for soap. After learning more about hygiene issues in the developing world, he contacted scientist friends and developed a technique to melt down, sterilize, and reprocess recycled soap bars into new composite bars of “eco-soap.” Eco-Soap Bank now employs 30 staff in several locations across Cambodia. The organization is working to expand its reach to other developing countries with high mortality rates associated with hygiene-related illnesses.
Eco-Soap Bank’s stated mission is to fight the spread of preventable illnesses caused by a lack of access to soap, to reduce the waste generated by the hotel industry, and to provide livelihoods to economically disadvantaged women.