Improve Your English With This Incredible Soap Recycling Story Ep 794

A young child holds a bar of soap to her face. Practice English with real-world topics that keep you interested and learning.

📝 Author: Hilary

📅 Published:

💬 3343 words ▪️ ⏳ Reading Time 17 min

📥 Download MP3 & PDF 12.3 Mb ▪️ 👓 Read Transcript ▪️ 🎧 Listen to Lesson


English Listening Practice Soap’s Second Life

What if your used soap could help save lives? In this lesson, we’ll talk about how companies are working to be more sustainable and to help the world be a better place. As you listen, you’ll also improve your English!

Did you know that most English conversations use just 500 common English words? If you focus on these words you will see a huge improvement in your English fluency! check out our Most Common 500 English Words Course: https://adeptenglish.com/language-courses/500-most-common-words-course/

This type of English listening topic is perfect for improving your English! By listening to this lesson, you’ll learn new vocabulary related to business, sustainability, and innovation. It will help you understand complex ideas more easily and improve your ability to discuss these real-world topics in English. Whether you’re just starting to learn or aiming for fluency, this lesson is a great step toward expanding your vocabulary and comprehension!

Soap is the most important thing for saving lives in a disaster.
⭐ Dr. Rajendra Pachauri

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More About This Lesson

Learn vocabulary about soap, business, and sustainability while improving your English listening skills with a positive story of innovation.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.
⭐ Margaret Mead

This lesson helps you improve your English listening skills and expand your vocabulary in real-life contexts. You'll learn useful business and everyday terms, while connecting with a meaningful story:

  1. You practice listening to natural British English to improve your comprehension skills.
  2. You expand your vocabulary with words related to soap, business, and sustainability.
  3. You learn useful phrases for discussing global issues and positive news stories.
  4. You hear clear explanations of terms like "toiletries" and "kit" for practical use.
  5. You gain insight into storytelling techniques used in English conversations.
  6. You follow an engaging narrative that helps you focus while listening.
  7. You improve your fluency by listening to varied sentence structures.
  8. You build cultural awareness through examples of global initiatives.
  9. You hear examples of active and descriptive language used in real contexts.
  10. You develop better pronunciation and rhythm by imitating the speaker.

So don’t miss out on this real-world story that will not only expand your language skills but also give you a new perspective on how the world works. Ready to learn English the smart way? Tune in now!

Follow and subscribe to our English language podcast, wherever you listen or watch your podcasts: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/adeptenglish/

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

  1. How can learning vocabulary about soap help improve my English? Learning vocabulary related to everyday objects like soap helps you expand your word bank. As you listen to real stories, you’ll encounter new terms and phrases, which will improve your overall fluency in English. Plus, understanding context makes learning more enjoyable and practical.
  2. What’s the connection between business vocabulary and speaking English fluently? Business vocabulary is essential for discussing modern issues like sustainability. By learning these words, you not only expand your vocabulary but also improve your ability to participate in professional conversations. This helps you sound more confident when speaking English in business settings.
  3. How can listening to positive stories improve my English skills? Listening to positive stories keeps you motivated and engaged. You get to hear how native speakers use vocabulary in real conversations, improving your listening and comprehension skills. This method also helps you learn the natural rhythm and flow of British English.
  4. What is sustainability vocabulary, and why is it useful in learning English? Sustainability vocabulary includes words and phrases related to protecting the environment and social responsibility. Understanding these words enriches your vocabulary and makes you more prepared to discuss global issues in English. It also helps you sound more informed and fluent in conversations on important topics.
  5. Can listening to this podcast help me become fluent in British English? Yes! This podcast helps you learn British English by exposing you to real-world topics, improving your vocabulary, listening, and speaking skills. By listening to natural conversations and learning new words, you’ll gradually build fluency and feel more confident using English in different situations.

Most Unusual Words:

  • Toiletries: Small items like soap, shampoo, and toothpaste used for washing and grooming.
  • Occupancy: The number of people staying in a place, like a hotel, at one time.
  • Sustainable: Using resources in a way that doesn't harm the environment or future use.
  • Landfill: A place where rubbish is buried in the ground.
  • Ingenuity: Clever thinking or creativity to solve problems.
  • Recycled: Made from materials that have been used before.
  • Hygiene: Keeping clean to stay healthy and avoid illness.
  • Kit: A set of tools or items collected together for a specific purpose.
  • Organisation: A group of people working together for a purpose, like UNICEF or a charity.
  • Obligations: Things you must do because of rules, laws, or promises.

Most Frequently Used Words:

WordCount
Hotel33
World14
Shawn13
Other9
Clean9
There8
About8
Business8

Listen To The Audio Lesson Now

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Transcript: Improve Your English with This Incredible Soap Recycling Story

Soap, hotels, business and saving the world. A first ‘positive news story’ for 2025

Hi there and welcome to this podcast from Adept English. Do you like soap? This is my favourite bar of soap at the moment. And more to the point for this article, do you like hotel soap? Today let's cover a positive news story. Something good that's happening in the world. I don't know about your country, but in the UK at the moment, there are so many negative things happening. It doesn't give a good feeling for 2025. Our economy isn't doing well. People are fed up with politics. The weather is gloomy. It's much harder to get a job. The price of everything seems high. And I find I don't understand many of the decisions which our leaders make. So if your country is anything like the UK at the moment, you may really enjoy a positive story. Something good happening in the world. I read this story in Hustle magazine and I liked it for two reasons. Firstly, it's about rich parts of the world helping poorer parts of the world. And secondly, it's about one man's business ingenuity. His cleverness in other words. His cleverness which has helped him achieve something truly remarkable. Listen on for vocabulary about soap, hotels, business ideas, and actually something truly heroic. All while doing your English language practice. How good is that?

Hello, I’m Hilary, and you’re listening to Adept English. We will help you to speak English fluently. All you have to do is listen. So start listening now and find out how it works.

What do you enjoy about staying in nice hotels? Is it the bed, the coffee or the soap?

So have you ever stayed in a hotel that's part of a chain? I'm talking about nice hotels here. Like Four Seasons, Hyatt, Marriott, Intercontinental or Hilton Hotels. I have stayed in them before. Years ago when I travelled with my job. But I've been self-employed for years. I work for myself. So no business trips and I can't afford to stay in nice hotels. But I know that part of the pleasure of these nice hotels is having a lovely bath or shower. And using the free toiletries. By that word 'toiletries', I mean the free shampoo, soap, bubble bath or shower gel. In most nice hotels, these smell lovely. I've tried on occasion to track down where hotels get their soap from, but I've been unsuccessful. I do like nice soap and I always have some in use. But I'm sure you'll agree that nice soap is one of the lovely things about staying in a good hotel.

📷

A posh hotel bathroom with lots of luxury soaps. Learn real English by listening to an uplifting story about soap saving lives.

©️ Adept English 2025


But one man in the US, Shawn Seipler, used to be someone typical of the person who travels a lot for work and stays in a lot of hotels. It's not so much fun when you have to do it all the time. But Shawn Seipler has been on a bit of a campaign and has changed the world. And it's all to do with hotel soap. I'll say more in a minute.

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Out of the boredom of a hotel guest - outstanding creativity!

So back to the hotel soap. Shawn Seipler used to stay in many hotels in America for his job. And like many business people on their own in hotels of an evening, he was probably a bit bored and started to notice things about the hotel and asked questions. In particular, he asked 'What happens to all that half-used soap in hotels?' Now, if you're like me and you like soap, if you stay in a nice hotel, you probably take the soap home with you. And for me, if there are any spare bars of soap 'knocking around', I'll take those too. Sorry, I just love soap! Some people prefer to use their own soap. So they just leave the hotel soap in its wrapper, which is fine. It can be used for the next guests. But what most people do is use the hotel soap once or twice and then leave it behind in the room. So when Shawn Seipler asked hotel staff, "What do you do with all the half-used bars of soap from the hotel rooms?" He was told repeatedly, "We throw it away." They bin it, in other words.

What do you do with your hotel soap?

Now, some statistics from the article in Hustle. Apparently, 86% of us use the soap in the hotel bathroom. But unlike me, most people don't take it home. And Shawn Seipler, the businessman-traveller in the US, noticed this. And given what he'd learned from hotel staff, he started to make calculations. He started to do the maths.

He worked out, "If most hotel guests leave the soap behind in their rooms, when they've used it just a couple of times, and the hotels throw it away, how much soap is that?" He calculated that with around 5 million hotel rooms in the US alone, and with an occupancy rate of 66%, that means the hotel rooms are occupied 66% of the time, that meant that around 3.3 million half-used bars of soap were being thrown away every day. And really, that's just an example of the waste, which is an accepted part of life in the rich countries of the world.

The need for handwashing to reduce disease in the world

But Shawn Seipler also did some other research. This was back in 2008. He found that in the poorer parts of the world, 9,000 children under the age of five were dying every day from hygiene-related illnesses. Just having soap and water could make such a difference. And there were studies which showed that regular hand-washing could reduce those deaths by half. When we look back at the COVID pandemic, it's clear that one of the most effective measures against the spread of COVID was simple hand-washing.

Clean the World took action

So Shawn Seipler started to collect hotel soap. He asked some of the big chain hotels, like Holiday Inn, could they collect the used soap and give it to him? And they did. So Shawn Seipler started with his friends in 2008, a business that took half-used hotel soap bars, cleaned them, melted them down, and made new bars of soap. Recycled soap, if you like. Now, if you're thinking, "Hmm, I'm not sure I'd like to use someone else's soap," initially they used potato peelers to remove the surface of the soap before they recycled it. And the melting down process will effectively have cleaned it. Soon, Shawn Seipler and his friends were making 500 bars of soap per day.

All he needed now was help in growing his operation and help getting the soap to the areas of the world where it was needed. He applied to the Bill Gates Foundation for funding. That was a 'No'. And in fact, Shawn Seipler applied for all sorts of grants and funds to get his idea off the ground. No one was interested. But Shawn Seipler wasn't a businessman for nothing. He called his new venture, Clean the World, because that was its purpose. And he came up with an ingenious plan, a clever business idea, to make sure it worked. He would charge hotels a small fee to belong to his soap recycling scheme. And hotels could tell their customers they were doing this. The fee started at 50 cents to $1 per hotel per room per month. It helped hotels meet their green targets, their obligations to be 'sustainable', in other words. Which, of course, hotels struggle to do. It looked good to customers. It didn't cost the hotels very much. The soap could be put to good use. And it didn't go into landfill. It didn't end up in rubbish dumps.

Clean the World becomes successful

And this business model was hugely successful. Now in 2025, Clean the World partners with over 8,000 hotels across the world, receiving used soap from 1.4 million hotel rooms. So far, 68 million bars of soap have been distributed to 127 countries. The operation is now much bigger. And of course, much more professional than when the group first started out. Clean the World has operations recycling the soap in Orlando, Las Vegas, Hong Kong, the Dominican Republic, Montreal and Amsterdam.

Clean the World sends the new soap to organizations like UNICEF, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, World Vision and Children International. In other words, the organisations who know best which areas of the world most need soap. Clean the World provided soap to Syrian and Somalian refugees and to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. And much of the soap has gone to countries like the Philippines, Zambia and Honduras.

Learn English While Exploring Superfoods!

A lesson in how to ingeniously survive during a pandemic

Clean the World faced a crisis during the COVID pandemic. Hotels closed and the supply of used hotel soap just stopped. But Shawn Seipler again, ingenious to the last, thought up another scheme to ensure that Clean the World could survive and operate once again once the pandemic was over. He started to supply kits, that's KIT, and it means 'specially designed equipment in a pack', that's a 'kit'. He supplied 'kits' to US residents so that they could save and give their unused soap and other leftover toiletries to the scheme. And these went to homeless shelters and similar organisations. And this ensured that the operation survived. Once the pandemic was over, hotels opened again and soap could be collected and reused again.

60% fewer children dying - much of this because of soap and water

To date, it's estimated that there are 60% fewer children dying from simple diseases like diarrhoea. Ones where hand washing can really make a difference, can be life-saving. And much of this is down to the influence of Clean the World. There are other operations, other companies now doing a similar thing. For example, Eco Soap and Diversey. But Clean the World was the first.

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There's still more to do - it's estimated that there are still 3 billion people worldwide who don't have access to simple hand washing with soap to reduce disease. But what a fantastic story! I wish there were more people like Shawn Seipler in the world with the want to do good and the business brain to accomplish it.

Goodbye

Let us know what you think of this story. I think it's a great one to start 2025!

Enough for now. Have a lovely day. Speak to you again soon. Goodbye.

Thank you so much for listening. Please help me tell others about this podcast by reviewing or rating it. And, please share it on social media. You can find more listening lessons and a free English course at adeptenglish.com

Founder

Hilary

@adeptenglish.com

The voice of Adeptenglish, loves English and wants to help people who want to speak English fluently.
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