Diversey Thailand – the Thai branch of the global cleaning and hygiene company – was recognized with the ‘2018 AMCHAM Corporate Responsibility Excellence Recognition’ award at AMCHAM Thailand on 20 November 2018.
Held in Bangkok, AMCHAM Thailand is the leading international business association in Thailand, which aims to promote an open and robust business climate between Thailand and the United States. Diversey Thailand was acknowledged for its Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, which include Soap For Hope™ and Linens For Life™ – both of which use their connections in the hotel industry to help those in need.
Vikas Mittal, Managing Director - Thailand, Indonesia & Indochina, said: “We’re thrilled to receive this award on behalf of our community initiatives. At Diversey, we’re continuously striving to source new and innovative ways to help struggling communities across the world, and our Soap For Hope™ and Linens For Life™ programs are but two of the initiatives that we have undertaken. We believe in teaching communities how to help themselves, and if we can achieve this in a way that is eco-conscious and reduces waste, then it’s definitely something we want to explore.”
Soap For Hope™
Soap For Hope™ was launched back in October 2013 and now has more than 539 participating hotels in 39 countries across the globe. The intention of the initiative is to prevent children in impoverished areas from catching diseases that could be averted with simple hand washing. Working with their partners in the hotel industry, Diversey uses the solid soap waste they gather from hotels and teaches at-risk communities how to salvage the soap slivers, in order to create brand new soap bars. The soap waste is collected from the hotels and transported to a local site, where residents are taught to reprocess it using a cold-press method. This soap is then distributed to communities in need, eliminating waste, improving hygiene and, most importantly, creating new jobs within these communities.
Linens For Life™
Linens For Life™ is another one of Diversey’s initiatives that focuses on aiding victims of disasters with support from Diversey and its hotel partners. By converting discarded hotel linens into new and useful items, it creates livelihoods for the members of the community affected, while in turn, allowing hotels to recycle their unwanted linens in a way that is both eco-conscious and supports local communities. Communities are trained on how to sew on sewing machines that are donated by Diversey, and a local charity is trained to manage the program. This gives communities a means by which to work and items created can include everything from pillow cases to totes and simple clothing. These are then sold to earn a small income for the people who made them.
NOVOTEL Bangkok Impact is one of hotel partners working with Diversey Thailand on the Linens For Life™ project, and has recently adopted refugee centres under the Thai Committee For Refugees Foundation. The hotel donated two tonnes of used linens in order to help meet the needs of local communities, whilst in turn reducing their waste output.
