What does packaging have to do with it? The unopened bars are simply left for the next guest. The packaging from the opened ones is already headed to the landfill. This doesn't change that equation at all. The reduction of soap bars headed to the landfill is infinitesimally small, and there's an environmental cost to their inefficient small-scale facility and inefficient delivery mechanism to ship their product to end users. It may be that there's a tiny little net positive environmental effect, but I seriously doubt it. And environmental benefits are an after-the-fact justification, not one of the primary motivators.
This is feel-good whitewashing. There are better things to do. Stop the waste at the source with refillable dispensers. Mandate better packaging or eliminate the packaging entirely.
The problem with things like this is that they make people feel better, make it seem as though something is being done, but don't actually do anything good, and for the cost, are worse than the alternatives. Manufacturers don't have to change packaging and hotels don't have to reduce waste, because for pennies on the dollar, they can point at a program like this, get a PR win, and claim they're doing something. It's not a viable business model, it's not in the best interest of those who ultimately benefit, but it makes "us" feel better and it makes the hotels look better.
>"Seipler did some back-of-the-napkin math and realized that millions of bars of perfectly salvageable soap were going to waste.".
>"Its biggest partner, Hilton, which signed on all of its worldwide locations in 2019, has contributed 14.5m bars of soap in less than 3 years."
>"hotels go through ~3.3m bars of soap every day."
That sounds like a primary environmental concern and a pretty large one at that.
>"Stop the waste at the source with refillable dispensers. Mandate better packaging or eliminate the packaging entirely"
The hotel industry has virtually no interest into committing to any these changes because they generate so little PR value. No one's going to Embassy Suites because they care about the environment. This solution is at the very least a passive opportunity for companies like Hilton, to reduce waste.
This is feel-good whitewashing. There are better things to do. Stop the waste at the source with refillable dispensers. Mandate better packaging or eliminate the packaging entirely.
The problem with things like this is that they make people feel better, make it seem as though something is being done, but don't actually do anything good, and for the cost, are worse than the alternatives. Manufacturers don't have to change packaging and hotels don't have to reduce waste, because for pennies on the dollar, they can point at a program like this, get a PR win, and claim they're doing something. It's not a viable business model, it's not in the best interest of those who ultimately benefit, but it makes "us" feel better and it makes the hotels look better.