Soap at JW Marriott Grande Lakes, a hotel participating with Clean the World

zzdtravel recently caught wind of a creative project that intrigued the Earth-lover in us.

We all know that one of the best parts of a hotel stay is leaving with a suitcase full of free mini shampoo bottles and soap bars. But what happens to all of the slightly used toiletries you leave behind in the shower? They go to waste — about 1 million soap bars each year wind up in landfills, according to Treehugger.com.

Clean the World is trying to end the wastefulness and save some lives in the process. The non-profit collects and sterilizes opened bars of hotel soap and redistributes them (along with shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and bath gel) to some of the world’s poorest countries and to homeless shelters in the United States. Each year, 3.5 million people around the world die from diarrheal diseases and acute respiratory illness, and many of those deaths can be prevented by hand washing with basic bar soap.

Some 100 hotels are currently donating their slightly-used soap to Clean the World. We hope more hotels get on board. (Here’s how.)

Toiletries at JW Marriott Grande Lakes, a hotel participating with Clean the World