The Economics of Everyday Things

4. Used Hotel Soaps

January 12, 2026

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  • The small bar of soap was the first amenity provided in hotel bathrooms, evolving from a time when hotels did not even include private bathrooms. 
  • 86% of hotel guests use packaged soaps, making them the most utilized in-room amenity, which creates a massive waste problem of hundreds of millions of bars annually. 
  • Sean Seipler founded the nonprofit Clean the World to recycle used hotel soaps into new bars distributed globally, funding the operation by charging partner hotels a fee that is often less than their previous waste disposal costs. 

Segments

Sponsor Ad Read: GoldDealer.com
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(00:00:00)
  • Key Takeaway: GoldDealer.com offers a large inventory of precious metals, specializing in IRA accounts with no setup or shipping fees.
  • Summary: GoldDealer.com features one of the nation’s largest inventories of gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and rhodium bullion. They specialize in precious metal IRA accounts, offering one of the best storage programs without charging setup or shipping fees. The service also provides a free audio quote line updated twice daily and a weekly gold newsletter.
Sponsor Ad Read: ATT Business Wireless
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(00:00:27)
  • Key Takeaway: ATT Business Wireless improved delivery GPS reliability, solving issues like drivers needing 14-point turns.
  • Summary: Poor GPS coverage previously caused unreliable delivery routing, exemplified by a driver needing a 14-point turn that was even live-streamed by an influencer. With ATT Business Wireless, routes update on the fly, ensuring deliveries remain on time. The service is promoted with the tagline, “Connecting changes everything.”
Origin of Used Soap Inquiry
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(00:01:00)
  • Key Takeaway: Sean Seipler, a frequent traveler, was prompted in 2009 to question the fate of partially used hotel soaps.
  • Summary: In 2009, Sean Seipler, who traveled extensively as a tech executive, felt a persistent urge not to waste items after using a hotel bar of soap once. This feeling led him to call the front desk of his Minneapolis hotel to ask what happened to the soap after he left. This question initiated the central theme of the episode of The Economics of Everyday Things.
History of Hotel Soap Amenities
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(00:02:05)
  • Key Takeaway: Soap was the very first amenity provided in hotel bathrooms, which historically did not include private bathing facilities.
  • Summary: Early hotels did not provide soap and often lacked attached bathrooms; the innovation of a room with a bath was a major selling point, as highlighted by Statler Hotel founder Elswood Statler. Soap became the default amenity due to industry copycatting and high guest expectation. A 2019 study found that 86% of hotel guests use the packaged soaps, more than any other amenity.
Scale of Hotel Soap Waste
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(00:04:10)
  • Key Takeaway: Given global hotel capacity, hundreds of millions of room nights annually result in a massive volume of soap waste.
  • Summary: Estimating five to six million hotel rooms worldwide operating at 60% occupancy generates hundreds of millions of room nights yearly. This scale translates directly into a huge amount of soap being discarded. Seipler learned from the hotel front desk that their standard procedure was to throw the used soap away.
Founding Clean the World
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(00:04:41)
  • Key Takeaway: Seipler started Clean the World by manually rebatching soap in his garage after being unable to accept the waste.
  • Summary: Unable to accept millions of bars ending up in landfills, Seipler began collecting half-used bars and experimenting in his garage, using tools like pickle buckets and meat grinders to scrape and rebatch the soap. His first major donor was the Holiday Inn at the Orlando International Airport, whose general manager, Peter Favier, supported the collection effort.
Sponsor Ad Read: CrowdStreet
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(00:05:58)
  • Key Takeaway: CrowdStreet offers self-directed investors access to private market opportunities like real estate and private equity.
  • Summary: CrowdStreet is designed for independent investors seeking direct access to vetted private market offerings. They provide transparent data and clear diligence summaries to support informed investment choices. The platform encourages investing independently, extending that principle beyond one’s career or personal projects.
Sponsor Ad Read: Mint Mobile
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(00:06:55)
  • Key Takeaway: Mint Mobile offers 50% off unlimited premium wireless plans starting at $15 a month for new customers.
  • Summary: Mint Mobile is promoting a post-holiday deal to help consumers cut back on wireless overspending in January. All plans include high-speed data and unlimited talk/text delivered over the nation’s largest 5G network. The limited-time offer requires upfront payment for three, six, or twelve months.
Soap Recycling Process Details
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(00:10:02)
  • Key Takeaway: Recycled soap is processed through grinding, fine filtering to remove debris, and blending by a ‘soap whisperer’ before sterilization and re-molding.
  • Summary: The initial step involves grinding the soap using a machine with a metal screw, followed by a very fine filter that catches surface materials like plastic, hair, and dirt under high pressure. Filters must be changed approximately every 45 minutes, similar to NASCAR pit stops. A specialist, Carlos Anderson (Los D), determines the precise amount of water and sterilization solution needed to create marble-like, tie-dye bars with dignity.
Clean the World’s Global Reach
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(00:11:43)
  • Key Takeaway: Recycled soap palettes are shipped globally to communities in need, including the Dominican Republic, Kenya, Uganda, and Ukraine.
  • Summary: The uniquely blended, re-molded bars are distributed internationally to areas requiring hygiene aid. Seipler’s research showed that providing soap and handwashing education could cut child deaths from pneumonia and diarrheal disease in half. Despite an early rejection from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Seipler forged ahead with the nonprofit.
Clean the World’s Business Model
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(00:12:03)
  • Key Takeaway: Clean the World sustains its operations by charging hotel partners a monthly fee, which often offsets their previous waste management costs.
  • Summary: Seipler realized the service offered value to hotels through waste reduction, PR benefits, and connecting with room attendants’ home countries. The average U.S. hotel partner now pays Clean the World 50 to 80 cents per room per month. This fee structure has allowed the organization to divert 22 million pounds of waste and distribute 75 million donated bars over 13 years.
Future of Soap Waste Reduction
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(00:13:46)
  • Key Takeaway: Despite Clean the World’s success, experts suggest efforts must focus on the root cause—incentivizing guests to carry their own soap—to address the three-quarters of a billion soaps still landfilled annually.
  • Summary: Cornell’s Chekaton Dev applauds Clean the World but advocates for upstream solutions to incentivize guests to take their soap. Currently, about three-quarters of a billion barely used hotel soaps are still headed to landfills each year. Clean the World would need to multiply its operation by a factor of about 100 to handle the entire volume of waste.
Sponsor Ad Read: The Sporkful
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(00:15:11)
  • Key Takeaway: The Sporkful podcast, hosted by Dan Pashman, explores culture, history, and science through food, including inventing new pasta shapes.
  • Summary: The Sporkful is described as being for ’eaters,’ not just foodies, using food as a lens for deeper topics. Past episodes have investigated discrimination allegations at Bon Appetit and Pashman’s three-year effort to invent a complex new pasta shape. Listeners can expect to learn, feel, and laugh in every episode.
Sponsor Ad Read: Wonder
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(00:15:47)
  • Key Takeaway: Wonder allows users to order from multiple menus by renowned chefs in a single order with fast, free delivery or dine-in options.
  • Summary: Wonder addresses mealtime compromise by allowing users to mix and match hundreds of freshly prepared dishes from various menus in one order. Options range from poke bowls to filet mignon, eliminating the need to settle for less than what one is craving. Users can get fast, free delivery or dine in at a local Wonder location.
Sponsor Ad Read: Greenlight Infinity
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(00:16:12)
  • Key Takeaway: Greenlight Infinity provides parents with driving reports to monitor teen habits like phone use and speeding, facilitating safety conversations.
  • Summary: Statistics show that 39% of teen drivers admit to texting while driving, despite 94% knowing it is dangerous. Greenlight Infinity’s driving reports allow parents to monitor phone usage and speeding habits, offering real data for meaningful safety discussions. Weekly updates help track progress over time to keep teens safe.