HAITI: A Haitian program to recycle used soap bars from luxury hotels has proven a win-win-win proposition, reducing waste, helping fight water-borne disease and giving employees like Magoiana Fremond the chance to send her kids to school and let them “eat every day.”
The project, simple but effective, has had a remarkable impact.
Laure Bottinelli discovered the idea of soap-recycling while spending time in Southeast Asia. Inspired to try something similar in Haiti, she and two associates in January 2016 created the Anacaona company, Haiti’s first and only soap-recycling enterprise.
They have already enlisted 25 hotels in the plan, in both Port-au-Prince and Jacmel, a weekend destination for many foreigners living in the capital.
“In Haiti, nothing is ever wasted: Poverty is such that everything is recovered, reused in one way or another,” said Mai Cardozo Stefanson, part of the management team at Montana, a luxury hotel in Port-au-Prince.
“Normally, the staff saves the soap for their own use. But now they collect used bars and give them to Laure. In return, they receive clean, reconditioned soap bars.”
Plus, she added, “with the cholera crisis we’re facing, there is the aspect of hygiene education,” another part of the work done by Anacaona.
Used soap bars collected from hotel rooms are shredded and melted before being reconditioned, jobs Anacaona’s three employees divide among themselves.
“I didn’t come back to Haiti to set up just one more NGO,” said Bottinelli, a company head at the tender age of 28.
While some employees do not know how to read the contracts Anacaona gives them, “we have explained to them what a work contract means, that there are rules to be respected but also rights protecting them.”
In a country where informality is the norm, she likes to point out that her company is properly registered with commercial and tax authorities.
The new soaps are made using only natural Haitian products and are wrapped in biodegradable paper: the small company aspires to social responsibility and prefers hiring single mothers.
“I can’t deny it, the Good Lord brought us this job,” said Magoiana Fremond, carefully wrapping a soap bar. Before, she couldn’t afford to send her five kids to school, provide them food and pay the rent.
And now?
“Anacaona helps the country, and me, a lot: my children are in school, they eat every day. Before, I rented an apartment, but now I’ve started building a house,” she added with a proud smile.
While the first orders for Haitian soaps were sent to French beauty label Yves Rocher, the recycling project now is able to distribute part of its own production to partner schools in Jacmel.
The small company, still in the development stage, is also playing a part in reducing water-borne disease in Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas.
With 72 percent of Haitians lacking indoor toilets, the cholera epidemic that started in 2010 has spread across the country, killing nearly 10,000 people.
The lack of potable water has made diarrheal diseases a leading cause of infant mortality, according to the World Health Organization.
Anacaona works with its partner schools to be sure they teach basic hygiene rules to their students. And in the Cite Soleil, the Caribbean’s most densely populated slum, the company pays community workers to spread that message.
With questionnaires in hand, these “hygiene ambassadors” criss-cross their neighborhoods, knocking on the doors of every rusty sheet-metal shanty they encounter to first assess the inhabitants’ sanitary habits and then share the essential rules of good health.
“Now, every time people see me in the neighborhood, they think about the advice I gave them,” said Judeline Joseph, 25, with a laugh.
“Sometimes they don’t have the money to buy what you need to treat the water. But some of them simply forget to take precautions — so we are really doing something useful!“
From luxury hotels to slums, Haiti puts used soap to good use
From luxury hotels to slums, Haiti puts used soap to good use
Thai coffee chains cut default sugar content in coffee and tea drinks in a new health push
- The Health Department says Thais consume 21 teaspoons of sugar daily, far exceeding the World Health Organization’s recommended six teaspoons
- Officials warn this increases obesity and diabetes risks. A survey found iced coffee and bubble tea contain high sugar levels
BANGKOK: For many Thais, a meal doesn’t feel complete without an iced coffee or tea so sugary it could pass for dessert. The government, concerned about the health consequences, wants them to dial it back.
Starting Wednesday, nine major coffee chains across the country have pledged to cut the default sugar content in some of their drinks by half in a government initiative aimed at tackling excessive sugar consumption.
According to the Health Department, Thais consume an average of 21 teaspoons of sugar per day, more than three times the World Health Organization’s recommended limit of six teaspoons. Health officials warn that such high intake increases the risk of obesity, diabetes and other diseases.
The initiative is the first significant step to change consumers’ sugar consumption behavior, said Amporn Benjaponpitak, the director general of the department.
Pakorn Tungkasereerak, the department’s deputy, said 2025 data show that about 45 percent of Thais aged 15 and older are obese, while 10 percent of the population has diabetes.
A survey by the Bureau of Nutrition found that a 22-ounce (650-milliliter) iced coffee contains an average of nine teaspoons of sugar, while a 10-ounce (300-milliliter) serving of bubble milk tea — an iced milk tea with tapioca pearls known as boba — can contain as much as 12 teaspoons.
Sirinya Kuiklang, an office worker, said she approves of the changes. She already orders her drinks at just 25 percent of the standard sugar level, but she is aware that many others consume too much sugar.
“It’s good for Thai people,” she said.
Another office worker, Porwares Tantikanpanit, said he has enjoyed his non-coffee beverages at their current sugar levels but is willing to adjust if shops reduce the sweetness.
However, putting the policy into practice may prove challenging. Officials have said each brand can apply the initiative as they see fit.
Some customers have expressed confusion in response to social media posts promoting the initiative, asking how to order drinks with the level of sweetness that they prefer. Several brands said that the reduction applies only to certain menu items.
