Comments by "Peter Jacobsen" (@pjacobsen1000) on "How Used Hotel Soap Gets Recycled Into Brand New Bars | World Wide Waste | Business Insider" video.

This all sounds very nice, and I'm sure those recyclers have the best of intentions, but I have some questions: A: What is the impact on the climate and environment of just throwing out the soap? B: What is the impact on the climate and environment of recycling the soap and shipping it overseas? C: I have spent considerable time in developing countries, and soap is readily available at low cost in all but the most remote villages. I have never heard people in developing countries mentioning that they didn't have access to soap or lack money to buy it. So is a lack of soap really a problem in those countries? D: When you import and hand out soap for free in any society, what impact does that have on local businesses that try to make a living off of making and selling soap? I am skeptical at the utility and benefit of these initiatives. Thinking you're doing a good deed, and actually doing a good deed can be two very different things.
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@AG_92 " a company that helps people". The people who are primarily helped by this company are middle class people in rich countries who feel guilty about their lifestyle. You make the same mistake as most other people here: You BELIEVE this company is doing a good deed, but you don't actually KNOW if they're doing a good deed. I suggest they may be doing more harm than good, even if they have the best intentions. Soap is neither difficult nor expensive to make, and there is soap production in all countries, even the most impoverished ones. If only more people would spend some time in developing countries, they would stop viewing those people with condescending pity. Just as a point of comparison (unrelated to soap), people living in the slums of India, Brazil, Kenya, Nigeria and other countries have smartphones and mobile internet. Why would you think they don't have soap?
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@therealdeal3672 1) Most hand soap isn't toxic or particularly bad for the environment. It's primarily oil and sodium hydroxide. And if it were so bad, we would be unwise to wash it down the drain on a daily basis, so that argument is not too solid. 2) Based on the video, those 'specific regions' include areas in the global south. That's quite a distance. Besides, 'shipping only to specific regions' applies to pretty much every product known to man. Remember, these bars of soap have already been shipped once to the hotels, then to the recycler, and finally to the end user. That's triple the transportation. 3) Obviously, people don't come out and talk about soap to strangers, but visiting them and talking to them, it's as easy to find out their hygiene standards as if I visited you in your home. I live in the developing world and have for the last 26 years. Access to soap just isn't an issue. 4) Giving things away for free where a market for those things exist will certainly have an impact on the market.
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@regeinaneimar7342 Actually, speaking of toothbrushes, perhaps the next project will be people collecting old, used toothbrushes, getting volunteers to painstakingly put new bristles in them, and then flying them out around the world to give to random people.
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@rylandrc Is poor personal hygiene a problem where you live? Where is it a problem?
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@FilmscoreMetaler You could even say that by giving away their excess soap, those big hotels are washing their hands.....(sorry, I'll show myself out)
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@platoquemado "I just had a family member get sick with typhoid". Did your family member not have access to soap, or did the person just choose not to use it? Also, is it possible your family member got infected in another way, for example by eating or drinking contaminated food? That is the most common way to get infected.
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@SuM of NoN That's how many people in developing countries make their living: By running small mum-and-pop businesses. You don't have to care about them, but they want to make a living.
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@SuM of NoN "All you need to live is food, water and shelter. Nature already provides all of that". Ok, without necessarily telling which country you're from, can you at least tell me what kind of society you live in? From the way you describe 'living', it sounds like you live out in nature. But somehow you still have access to the internet.
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@zeineb8870 Yeah, if the recycled soap was all distributed in the same city as the hotel, that would be more sensible.
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@_w_w_ "Americans and Europeans are just wasteful." That is certainly true, but I have lived in China for many years, and people here are equally wasteful. The question is how we deal with all the waste.
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@rylandrc Diseases are not primarily spread by not washing with soap. Yes, washing hands can limit the spread of the common cold and other simple viruses, but the vast majority of dangerous diseases are spread through contaminated food and water, biological vectors like mosquitos, and contact with human biological fluids like spit and semen. Besides, there is plenty of soap in the world. This idea that many people don't have access to soap is simply false.
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@SuM of NoN Whether the US invades their country or not, they still need to make a living. You may not have a very good understanding of the developing world, but in many places, there are no large companies they can work at. Often they're on their own. Life in those places is much harder than in any developed country. "It's paper". You mean money? It's made of paper, but it's necessary. "Just like your God". Let's get real, there are no gods, none at all.
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@SuM of NoN Everything you're saying here indicates that you don't believe you have any control over your own life. That's pretty weak. Don't be a weakling, don't be a loser. Be strong.
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@banhammer3904 "the great reset agenda". What exactly is that?
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