Five million people die every year from infectious diseases.

The majority of them are children under age five.

Amazingly, the simple act of proper hand washing helps prevent the spread of infectious disease. Unfortunately, millions of people don’t even have access to the essential items for hand washing.

Making a Difference: PeopleTowels and Clean the World.

Committed to altering the course of this deadly problem, PeopleTowels and the not-for-profit organization Clean the World have partnered to launch Clean Hands, Clean World™. This new program distributes recycled soap and reusable hand towels to impoverished communities, saving lives while reducing waste and conserving natural resources.

Their mission is to halt the spread of preventable infectious diseases in a sustainable manner—millions of pounds of waste will be diverted from landfills while providing those in need with the means to practice life saving hand hygiene.

Why recycled soap?

Every day in North America, thousands of hotels discard millions of pounds of soap and shampoo. These products often end up in already overflowing landfills and contaminate fragile groundwater systems.

By recycling these amenities, Clean the World has helped divert more than 1.2 million pounds of hotel waste from polluting our planet while providing millions with the means to practice life saving hand hygiene.

Why reusable hand towels?

Effective hand hygiene requires washing and drying  hands several times a day. On average, people use over three thousand paper towels outside the home every year, wasting trees, water, and energy for a product that is used for a few seconds then thrown away to create thousands of pounds of solid waste.  A reusable option like PeopleTowels is a sustainable, on-the-go alternative to disposable paper towels.

Saving Lives + Resources

Studies have shown that simple hand washing substantially reduces the spread of infectious diseases. Hand washing with soap significantly reduces the impact of two fatal diseases: acute respiratory infection and diarrheal disease, the top two killers of children under 5-years-old.  Unfortunately, millions of people do not have access to the essential items for hand washing.  Pairing Clean the World recycled soaps with PeopleTowels provides the tools to practice lifesaving hygiene – virtually anywhere – while easing the strain on waste removal capacities and natural resources worldwide.

Sustainable Hygiene Kits for One Hundred Thousand People In Need

Clean Hands, Clean World will provide one hundred thousand sustainable hand-washing kits, containing recycled soaps from Clean the World and PeopleTowels. For every Limited Edition, Clean Hands, Clean World PeopleTowel purchased, one sustainable hand-washing kit will be given to a person in need, serving communities in Haiti, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, and others including communities right here in the United States.

You can purchase your Clean Hands, Clean World PeopleTowels on myEARTH360.com.

Child’s hand in water photo via flickr.com by karenk_singer

*Originally published on the I Count for myEARTH blog.

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Editor: Jennifer Cusano