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Carnival to donate tons of recycled soap to needy communities

soap recycling in carnival-clean the world partnership
Carnival and Clean the World plan to distribute more than 400,000 new, clean bars of soap to people in need across the globe each year
Through Carnival Cruise Line's new partnership with Clean the World, nearly 40 tons of discarded soap will be collected each year and recycled into new soap bars for use by vulnerable communities worldwide.

Clean the World is a global health leader in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) matters and sustainability, dedicated to saving lives by recycling and distributing soap and other hygiene products to more than 127 countries.

Soap is sanitized and reprocessed

Carnival will start collecting discarded soap from passenger and crew staterooms throughout the fleet and send it to a Clean the World recycling center where the soap will be sanitized, melted down and reprocessed. Together, Carnival and Clean the World will distribute more than 400,000 new, clean bars of soap to people in need across the globe each year.

The program has been tested on several Carnival ships and will be rolled out across the entire North American fleet by the end of July. It is one of multiple initiatives under way to further reduce waste disposal and recycle additional products used on board.

Expanded locations in the Americas

The Carnival partnership will enable Clean the World to expand its existing recycling program to locations throughout the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Bermuda and Central America, providing life-saving hygiene services to residents in those areas and further support for WASH programming in the Dominican Republic.

'Carnival guests use more than three million bars of soap each year. With this partnership, we’ll positively impact the lives of so many people who will have access to a basic hygiene product that so many of us take for granted,' Carnival President Christine Duffy said.

'We rely on partners to help us deliver much-needed hygiene supplies to children and families in the Caribbean, Puerto Rico and South America, which are among the areas most in need of this support,' said Shawn Seipler, founder and CEO, Clean the World.

2m kids a year die from hygiene-related diseases

Nearly 5,000 children under 5 die each day — 2m children a year — from hygiene-related diseases. Through its efforts, Clean the World has contributed to a 60% reduction in the death rate of young children worldwide.