An Atlanta nonprofit that recycles discarded soap from U.S. hotels, has shipped its first large batch to Africa, with help from a Virginia company.

Relief Cargo, a division of Relocation Benefits LLC, paid $2,700 to ship 1,400 pounds of soap by air to Nairobi, Kenya. The soap, collected and reprocessed in the U.S. by the Global Soap Project, was then transported to an orphanage in Migori, Kenya, called Brittneys Home of Grace, which is operated by an Alabama-based organization, Kenya Relief. 

Derreck Kayongo, founder of the Global Soap Project who also works for CARE, the Atlanta-based relief organization, was at the orphanage to distribute the soap. A CNN crew was also there filming a story on the soap project.

Relief Cargo President Andrew Drescher met Mr. Kayongo last year and was so impressed with the effort that he pledged $5,000 to help get the soap to Africa. Relief Cargo specializes in helping nonprofit groups ship supplies duty free and at low cost. 

The Soap Project collects slightly used soap from hotels that would normally be tossed in the trash. Using a $20,000 machine, the soap is sterilized and shaped into new bars for shipment to Africa and other parts of the world. 

"In America, we take soap for granted," Mr. Drescher told GlobalAtlanta. "Derreck made me realize how good we have it in the United States and how bad people in parts of the developing world have it."

Mr. Drescher hopes to help the Soap Project coordinate with other relief agencies so that the groups can share shipments to save costs.

"Some of the medical groups will literally go out and buy soap," for their projects abroad, he said. 

The soap project has found no shortage of hotels willing to donate, with 17 tons of donated soap that has accumulated in storage. Organizers say the Kenyan shipment is proof that the concept can work. They hope the 5,000 bars now in Kenya will be the first of many more to follow as a way to reduce disease in developing countries while also allowing hotels to discard less trash in landfills.

For more on Relief Cargo, click here. To learn more about the Soap Project, click here.

Read more: From Atlanta Hotels, Tons of Soap Headed to Africa 

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