UNISOAP's Dual Mission: Solidarity Recycling and Professional Integration
Founded in 2017, Unisoap has a simple and powerful mission: to give a second life to soaps thrown away by hotels by recycling them for charitable purposes.
The observation is alarming: every day, thousands of soaps are thrown away while 3 million people in France lack access to basic hygiene products. Through a recycling process carried out in an ESAT (a sheltered workshop providing work for people with disabilities), Unisoap collects, cleans, and transforms these soaps before redistributing them through a network of associations. It's a virtuous circle that links responsible hospitality, inclusion, and health.
Why We Chose to Partner with Unisoap
While analyzing our practices as part of our CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) approach, we quickly identified solid soaps as one of the most frequent types of waste in our rooms. Their potential for reuse was obvious. Rather than throwing them away, we wanted to give them a useful second life. Unisoap stood out as the ideal partner: its action combines waste reduction, a strong social impact, and local roots.
How Does It Work in Our Hotels?
In the hotels, the housekeeping managers coordinate the collection process. The staff responsible for room cleaning place the used soaps in a small, dedicated cardboard box. Once full, it is transferred to a larger container, which is stored until collection. To limit transportation, several hotels within the group coordinate to consolidate shipments.
Two Years into the Partnership, a Few Figures:
Since the beginning of our collaboration with Unisoap, more than 500 soaps have been redistributed. This tangible initiative also allows us to reduce the weight of our general industrial waste.
Recycling soaps is much more than just an ecological gesture: it is an act of solidarity that is useful and in line with the challenges of our time. Our partnership with UNISOAP is therefore part of a threefold approach: the circular economy, social commitment, and environmental responsibility.