How to Make a New Bar of Soap from Used Bars of Soap

If you grew up with parents who were all about ‘want not, waste not’, throwing away anything that’s useable is hard! That’s probably why so many of us find it difficult to chuck away the worn ends of soap bars.

The bits are usually too small to be grabbed with wet hands and hard and cracked from sitting in the bathroom for months – so you’re unlikely to use them as actual soap. And getting them to stick to the new bar of soap doesn’t always work, so you risk them coming loose in the bath and making the surface slippery.

But those soap shards have plenty of other uses that can save you precious dollars. To make the most of your soap ends, check out these simple tips.

Make new soap from old scraps

The easiest thing to do with old soap scraps is to reform them into nice new bars of soap. Simply save up all your soap scraps until you have a large amount. When you have enough to make a few bars, break the leftover slivers up into small pieces. Place the pieces in a saucepan and fill with water, then melt the mixture over a medium heat until the soap starts to stick together. Make sure you stir the mixture often and don’t let it come to the boil.

Strain the soap pieces and mix in a large bowl until combined. Grease two small bowls or containers – these will be your soap moulds. Place the thoroughly combined soap mixture into the bowls and leave them in the fridge overnight. Remove them from the bowls in the morning and voila, homemade soap cakes!

Laundry detergent

Recycle your dry soap scraps by placing them in a food processor and grinding them until they form a crumbly powder. Put the powder in a large bowl and add in washing soda that’s equivalent to double the amount of ‘soap powder’, as well as double the amount of borax . Washing soda is the common name for sodium carbonate, and both it and borax are available at Coles and Woolworths as well as online. Mix together evenly and use two tablespoons for your next load of washing.

Mark fabric

Small pieces of soap are great for marking fabric when sewing if you can’t find your chalk. They will show up especially well on dark material, and an added extra is that you can quickly wash out the markings with a little water.

Make liquid soap

Why not convert those leftover pieces of soap into some liquid hand-soap for the kitchen or bathroom? Simply grate up your soap ends into small flakes until you have approximately 226.8 to 283.5 grams (8 to 10 ounces). Bring 3.8 litres of water to the boil in a large saucepan and stir the soap until the soap dissolves completely.

Mix in two tablespoons glycerin if you’re using store-bought soap shards as your base. If you are using castile or handmade soap, they will likely already contain glycerin already. Once the soap, glycerine and water are combined, remove from the heat and sit at room temperature for 12-24 hours. After a maximum of 24 hours, the mixture should be thick (if it’s too thick you may need to whisk it up a little). Now, stir in any essential oils, extracts or scents you like and place the mixture in soap dispensers.

Do you prefer using liquid soap or soap bars? What is your go-to shower soap?

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Learn how to make new homemade soap by grating old soap scraps and remolding them into new soaps.

Learn how to make new homemade soap by grating old soap scraps and remolding them into new soaps.

The big mesh bag of colorful soap scraps was sitting in my bathroom cupboard for longer than I would like to admit. As I dumped them onto the counter, I was reminded of soaps gone by – the scrubby oatmeal soap from the co-op, the handmade blue swirl soap that was a gift, the rose soap that smelled so good. Is it possible to be nostalgic about soap? Apparently so.

But nostalgia aside, I was here for a practical purpose – to avoid wasting perfectly good soap.

Being frugal is in my blood. Growing up, we scrimped and saved. We dug out every last bit from the peanut butter jar. We cut open toothpaste and lotion tubes to get out every last drop. We reused and repurposed and passed things along when we were done.

Which is precisely why that bag of soap scraps was haunting me. I needed to find a way to use them up. One option was to melt them down and turn them into laundry soap or liquid hand soap. But why not make new homemade soap? I decided to give it a try.

Making Homemade Soap

There doesn’t seem to be one tried and true recipe for making new soap out of old soap. It’s more of a method than an exact recipe.

Follow these simple steps and be prepared to wing it depending on the type and amount of soap bits you have.

Step 1: Start with a bunch of soap scraps. The more the merrier!

Step 2: Grate the soap bits with a cheese grater. Soft, glycerin based soaps will be easy to grate but some soaps are quite difficult to grate and produce more of a soap dust than soap flakes (cover your nose & mouth so you don’t inhale any). Some of my soaps were so hard that I just broke them into bits instead of grating them.

Step 3: Put the soap flakes in a microwave safe, glass container. Add a little bit of water – about 1 Tablespoon per cup of soap flakes. Keep in mind that the more water you add, the longer it will take your soap to dry in the mold. Microwave the soap scraps mixture in about 30 second intervals. Mix after each time. In my case, the soap mixture never “melted” completely. There were still chunks of soap showing but everything got very soft and mushy. At this point you can add some essential oil scent if you would like. I added lavender essential oil to mine.

Step 4: Spoon the soap mixture into your mold. I used muffin tins and I sprayed them with cooking spray first just to make sure the new soaps wouldn’t stick. You can also use a silicone soap mold or make free-formed soap balls.

If you look closely at the photo below, you can see that I made two batches – one was smoother and one was more chunky. In the end, I actually preferred the chunky look because you can still see the colors from the different soaps.

(This is not a pretty picture of my well worn muffin tin….)

Step 5: Let the soaps dry out for a few days or even a week before you try to take them out of the mold. I was expecting my soaps to be a bit drier and more solid. Instead they are soft and will break apart easily if you try.

The end result

My “new” homemade soap won’t win any beauty contests. The pretty colors of the original soaps are largely gone and the resulting soap is a bit greyish in color. I definitely won’t be giving any for gifts – however they work just fine and smell nice due to the added essential oils!

And most importantly, my guilty conscience is assuaged – I won’t be wasting perfectly good soap!

I was flipping through the channels the other day when I stopped to watch a story about a single mother who makes homemade soap to save $10 a month.

As I sorted through multiple recipes online, I discovered that she’s not the only one doing this. A lot of people are turning economical bar soap into luxurious body wash or liquid hand soap, potentially saving $100 a year or more!

And after trying it out myself, I don’t think I’ll ever have to buy liquid hand soap again.

Follow along as I show you step-by-step how I turned scraps of leftover bar soap into homemade liquid soap that will last for months or maybe the rest of the year.

I promise that it’s cheap, quick and so very easy!

Recipe: Turn Bar Soap Scraps Into Liquid Hand Soap or Body Wash

Step 1: Gather scraps of old bar soap equal to 4 ounces, which is the weight of a regular bar of soap. You could also use a new bar of soap.

Step 2: Shred the soap using a cheese grater or a potato peeler.

Step 3: Heat the soap pieces in a pot with approximately 8 to 9 cups of water until it melts. Use less water if you want to make a creamy body wash instead of liquid hand soap.

Step 4: This is just optional, but you can add 1 tablespoon of vegetable glycerin, which will help moisturize the skin. I found this bottle of glycerin in the beauty department at Walmart for $3.88.

Step 5: Remove melted soap from the heat and let it sit covered for 12 to 24 hours.

Step 6: After the soap thickens overnight, use a whisk or a mixer to blend it together. If it’s too thick or too thin, you can make adjustments and repeat the previous steps as necessary.

Step 7: Transfer to containers for storage. Look how much soap was made!

I’m not a professional when it comes to soap making, but I couldn’t be happier with how I was able to reuse scraps of soap that may otherwise have gone to waste — and it only took a few minutes!

There are tons of different recipes and tutorials online. I found the following resources helpful:

How much money can you really save? It depends how much soap you make and use, but YouTuber Keila said she spends $1.60 to make four containers of body wash that would cost $20 at the store.

Questions

Ask a Question Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community or ask a new question.

Question: Making a Bar of Soap from Soap Scraps?

How can I remold soap out of old soap scraps?

Answers

My former mother-in-law showed me how when she would get a really thin piece of soap left from a bar, she would wet the new bar and the small piece, while in the tub or shower, and stick them together firmly, then while still in the tub or shower, smooth the edges down all the way around the small piece of soap. You didn’t get a new bar that way, but the small piece didn’t go to waste either.

When I have a lot of soap scraps saved up, I grate them on a coarse grater into a bowl. Then I add just enough water or liquid soap to make it stick together like clay.

Grate or cut the soap into small pieces and place in a microwaveable bowl about 3 times larger than the amount of soap. Add vegetable oil (abt 1 T to 1 cup of soap pieces). Sometimes I add cinnamon (about 2 t, other spices can be added such as basil, chopped bay leaf, etc.), oatmeal (about 2 T per cup) or cornmeal for texture, aroma, and to act as natural scrub.

Add about 1/4 water. Heat in 1 minute increments at 50% power (the soap expands and you don’t want to make a mess in the microwave). Stir. Repeat until the soap is soft. Sometimes I leave coarse bits of soap in the mixture to act as scrub. If you accidentlly use too much water, add more liquid to create a liquid soap, or add more oatmeal for a more density.

For soap bars or balls, the mixture needs to be the consistency of playdough. Dump the soap onto wax paper and mold. Pull the wax paper off the top of the soap Let sit a couple of hours, then turn the soap over so the bottom can dry out. It should be ready to use the next day. Soap balls will take longer to cure.

Question: Soap Made from Scraps Not Setting?

I made new soap using scraps and some body oil. The soap is not setting. Any clues to fix the problem please?

Answers

Make sure you are giving the soap enough time to dry. Initial drying is a week, and secondary drying can be 3 weeks.

Normally, if you are trying to make new soap out of soap scraps, you shouldn’t add oil to the mixture. This can prevent it from setting and drying. Furthermore, it can take several weeks for the soap to dry.

Archives

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Archive: Making a Bar of Soap from Soap Scraps

What is the easiest way to make a new bar of soap from all of my old soap scraps?

Tom from Homosassa, FL

Answers:

Making a Bar of Soap from Soap Scraps

I’d chop them all up just using a big chefs knife on a cutting board, then put them in a piece of fabric – just a cotton scrap. Then soak it in hot water for a minute and when you take it out, press it all together. Set it aside and let it dry. Once it’s dry, just take the cloth off and you have a new bar. Of course, you could do this without chopping them up first – just mush them together in the cloth and hope they stay put. (03/12/2007)

Making a Bar of Soap from Soap Scraps

Save up 11 ounces, making sure they are dry. Use your grater to grate them up. Put them in a sauce pan with 8 ounces of water and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. They should blend together like a smooth pudding. Pour into molds. Our daughter uses the bottom parts of water bottles to make a cute, flower-shaped one, or use any flexible plastic mold. This should make about 3-4 medium-sized bars.

After they are set up, pop the bars out of the molds. If they don’t come out easily, stick them in the freezer for 4 hours or overnight, or until they feel dry when you touch them. Then they will pop out easily. Air dry them without their touching each other for 2-3 days. As Mammy Yokum would say, “Abber Ka Dabber.” (03/13/2007)

Making a Bar of Soap from Soap Scraps

I have an apothecary jar with the rubber seal lid that I drop leftover soaps in with water and they melt and become creamy. Then add mouthwash to it if the slivers aren’t antibacterial so it will kill germs, and it will thin out enough to add to a pump bottle for use 🙂 (03/13/2007)

Making a Bar of Soap from Soap Scraps

I found the best way is to chop up and use a little water and form a new bar or any shape you want, but you must let dry or it will melt when you go to use it. (03/13/2007)

By denise warner

Making a Bar of Soap from Soap Scraps

Great info! Thanks! (11/09/2007)

Making a Bar of Soap from Soap Scraps

Here’s a really lazy way: find a pair of old clean knee-high hosiery; slip one inside of the other; drop in the old soap slivers; use to lather up a washcloth as you would a bar of soap. Hang in shower to drip dry. They also tend to “congeal” together after a few uses. (06/03/2008)

Archive: Making a Bar of Soap from Soap Scraps

How do I make a new bar of soap from left-overs?

Answers:

Making a Bar of Soap from Soap Scraps

Making a Bar of Soap from Soap Scraps

Basically you grate the old soap, melt, blend, and pour into something which will make a mold. If the soaps are different colors or degrees of dryness, the finer the grating, the better the result.

Or you can grate, put in an old plastic container, put 1/4 cup water for small amount, 1/2 cup water for more, put on lid and let slowly melt over a few weeks in a cupboard. When it’s a gooey mess, heat slowly in a stainless pot, or glass bowl in microwave in 20 second bursts on maybe 40 percent power. Stir until it all looks the same, use a spatula to scrape into your “mold” and let dry for few days until it pops out easily. Stand on side somewhere out of way and let get really dry and hard.

Sounds like a pain, but it’s good practice if you ever want to double process home made soap. Directions for different methods are on the web. If you double process soap, and let it dry for about 2 months it lasts so long you wouldn’t believe it. Really. (09/23/2009)

I’ve heard you can microwave them to soften them up and then squish together. I’ve never done it. I just put the sliver on top of the new bar and let them amalgamate with time and and water.

@Dinah We do the same thing. No waste.

Collect them in a knee high panty hose. After you have a few, immerse them in water and mold them into a bar. Or you could just keep adding them to the panty hose and use them when they are still in the hose (if that makes sense!)

My mom used to do that. I’ll try taking them out of the panty hose and using. Thank you

I use a net bag like what onions come it. Also doubles as a scrubbing exfoliate. And so the soap doesn’t get soft sitting in a dish that collects water from the shower. I use a suction cop hook to hang it.

@Therese Ryan-Haas Good Idea. I’ll try it

I have done the microwave thing, a lot of work for a small bar. You have to let them cure for two weeks. I like the stocking idea, and now that I see it posted, I remember reading about doing that 20 years ago.

@Kathie taylor My mom used the stocking idea. But I’m going to try taking them out of the panty hose and using. Thank you

If you don’t like the panty hose idea to keep them together, what about an exfoliating mitt or glove? Pop them inside one and use. Good for exfoliating the legs.

Another great idea thank you

I use to have a mould for this. It would unscrew at the bottom. I never used it 🙂 What if you bought a $ store travel soap holder (rectangular with a lid), melted the soap just enough in the microwave or a double-boiler, let it cool a bit and poured and squished it into the holder and let sit solidify? Then you could turn out a bar shaped soap.

@B. Enne great idea on the travel soap holder. Thank you

Soap actually grows bugs because of the fat content. Commercial washing machines are full of germs because the water never reaches sterilization temp. Toilets spray germs if the toilet lid is not closed. My point.One can be too thrifty

I just remembered that you can make liquid soap out of bar soap, so I Googled it for you.

@Repurpose Diva I tried it once years ago, with a different recipe. it separated. This one looks better.

what I have done in the past, is collect all the small pieces until you have about a pound or two. then melt them all down to a liquid state, pour into molds & wait for them to solidify. while they are in the liquid state, you can add fragrance and/or olive oil to make them easier on your skin. Since I make my own soap, there is a bazillion different ways & things you can do with small slivers of soap.

I wet and lather the new bar and the sliver and push them together. When they dry, the sliver stays with the bar and gets used.

@Barbara Caldwell That is what we do too. or if that doesn’t hold, we squish them into a ball.

I bought a little soap scrubby bag that I can toss my soap remainders into. I wash the tub/shower using the bag.

I do this all the time to the amusement of my grandchildren. Put both pieces in the sink full of water. Let sit for two hours. Pick up both pieces and lay on paper towels. Mold with your hands using the paper towels to grip the slippery little pieces. Sometimes, the edges don’t adhere really well. I use a foam foot scrubber (like the pedicurists use) to smooth out the edges while still wet. Put in soap dish and let dry.

Design

• 10/09/2013
• under Automotive, Design, DIY, How To

STEP 1:

Gather all your materials. You’ll need just soap bits, a plastic bottle, a grater, a cutting tool, and a pan for melting.

STEP 2:

Cut the bottom off of the plastic bottle to create a mold for your new soap bar. If you have a lot of soap saved up, you may need several bottles to use as molds. You can also choose to use large sized ice cube molds, or other fun-shaped molds if you have them.

STEP 3:

Next grate your bits of soap. When the pieces get very small, you can use the exacto knife, other cutting tool, to cut up the remaining bit into chunks.

STEP 4:

As an added touch, you can choose to separate the colors of the grated soap, so that you can make colored layered in your new bar.

STEP 5:

On the stove, melt your grated soap by adding a small amount of water. If you chose to separate the colors, melt them separately. The soap will start to clump and become sticky as it melts. If you would like to experiment, feel free to add in essential oils, or other ingredients to your liking. Some unique blends could include coffee grounds, herbs, or even beer! We chose to add in cacao powder for a boost of anti-oxidants, and to make a lovely scented “chocolate” soap.

STEP 6:

Scoop the melted, gummy soap into your bottle molds, layering colors as you like. Set the molds aside and let them cure for a few days (approximately three) until the soap is no longer tacky.

STEP 7:

You may be able to pop the soap our of the mold, but depending on your bottle shape, it may require cutting the mold away from the soap. If you want to portion your soap bar, slice it in half, making two discs showing pretty colored chunks across the surface.

Lea Stewart is a Chicago-based designer and self-proclaimed master multi-tasker. She is LEED GA accredited, and has had a passion for green design for as long as she can remember. Her design for sustainable footwear was internationally awarded the First Place Professional Winner of the International Design Resource Awards and winner of the Saint Etienne International Design Biennial in 2002. She has been published in the Eco Design Handbook, and is also a part of the permanent collection of the Huxley College of the Environment at West Washington University.

Lea Stewart believes that Design is multifaceted. It is about creating experiences. She works with companies whose mission is to grow their business through innovation, differentiation, and by meeting consumer needs. She has over a decade of working knowledge in many industries including consumer products, furniture, lighting, commercial products, medical products, packaging, and display design.

You can read more about her experience here and follow her on twitter @leadesigns

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Don’t throw away those soap scraps! Although it’s true that they can be a pain in the neck to use, they are not at all that useless. That’s because you may gather those slivers of soap and turn them into a new bar. All you have to do is melt soap scraps and pour them into a mold. Ta-dah! You got a fresh bar of soap that will certainly come in handy in the kitchen or bathroom. Best of all, you may add a few extra ingredients to give the finished product that additional impact.

So if you’re ready to make something useful out of those soap scraps lying around, put on your apron and follow these very simple steps:

Step #1: Gather Those Soap Scraps

It’s a good idea to have at least a cupful of soap scraps so that you may come up with a standard-size bar of soap. It is completely up to you whether you want to segregate them according to the brand. However, feel free to combine everything and see what amazing scent or appearance awaits you at the end of this project.

Step #2: Chop Them Up Into Tiny Pieces

Later on during this DIY endeavor, you will need to melt your soap scraps. You can make that part as trouble-free as possible by chopping up all of the slivers you have collected. Make sure that you cut them up into almost similar-sized pieces so that each one of them will later on melt at the same rate.

Step #3: Start Melting Them

Place the chopped up pieces of soap in a small sauce pan. Add some water until much of the soap scraps are covered. Switch on the stove to medium heat and wait for the water to boil and the pieces of soap to melt. Remember to constantly stir everything with a wooden spoon or spatula. Once the mixture has a soupy consistency already, remove from heat.

Step #4: Use a Metal Colander to Remove Clumps

Just in case there are a few scraps of soap that failed to completely melt, fret not. All you have to do is grab a metal colander and place it on a large frying pan. Pour the contents of the saucepan in the colander. Armed with your wooden spoon or spatula, carefully push the pieces of soap through the holes until none of them remain.

Step #5: It’s Time to Add Some Special Ingredients

If you love experimenting, you will surely find this particular part of this recycling project very fun. Place the melted soap back into the saucepan. To come up with an exfoliating and oil-absorbing soap, you may add some raw oatmeal into the mixture. If you want something that can remove grease and oils, add a few drops of lemon juice or even some lemon zest. There are many others that you may throw in — rose petals, honey, crushed almonds, etc. It is completely up to you whether you want a plain bar of soap or something with an extra wow factor.

Step #6: Form the Mixture Into a Bar

The final step is forming the mixture into a new bar. All you have to do is grab a muffin tin or glass bowl that’s large enough to accommodate the mixture. Before pouring the mixture into the container, remember to grease it. Pour the mixture and wait for it to completely solidify. Remove from the container and use as desired!

When making and cutting soap you are sure to end up with all kinds of soap ends. Some ways to recycle bar soap pieces would be to grate them up and make laundry soap, put them in soap saver bags, cut them up and add to a new soap base recipe, wrap them up and sell the soap ends or grate them up and create new bars.

• Grate up the end pieces and make laundry soap using this recipe – Laundry Soap Recipe

• Stack 5 or so end pieces and tie with a nice hemp rope or ribbon and sell at a reduced rate.
  

• • I have a resort that likes to buy my ends cut in half. This resort strives on supporting local business as well as supporting small business. The small bars are used as guest soaps and the regular size bars are sold in their gift shop.

• • Putting 5 or more scraps in a bag and selling them at a reduced rate – or add something else and make them grab bags. I sell bags of approx 8 soap ends for $5.00. That’s $5.00 I wouldn’t normally have and I find often the customers come back to buy a full bar later.

• Recycle a bar soap by making another bar soap with the end pieces. There really is no complicated recipe to doing this.
  • Simply grate up the soap and put them in a microwave safe glass container – I use a Pyrex measuring cup.
  • Add a little water to the grated up soap and microwave for 30 seconds or so and repeat until the soap mixture is melted completely.
  • You will have to judge how much water to use for the amount of soap scrapes you have.
  • Once the soap is melted it can now be poured into a mold – you can use almost anything or a mold you will find some great ideas here Soap trays and molds
• • Customer giveaways – cut up you end pieces and give them away at Craft Fairs and Events as samples.

• Cut the soap ends into half and string on a piece of hemp for a string of soap.

• Cut soap ends in to pieces and add to a new batch of soap – this will give it different color chunks in with the soap your just made

• Grate your soap ends and add the grated color pieces to a new batch of soap giving it a confetti look.

There you go you now have many ways to recycle soap ends.

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Bar soap is a convenient option for the bathroom, but when a bar gets to be too small, it becomes unwieldy and inconvenient. Instead of throwing out your small remnants of bath soap, use them to create new cleaning options for your home. With a bit of creativity, you can avoid adding the soap to your household waste and save money on sanitizing options for your garden, shower and guest bathroom.

Collect small soap pieces in an airtight container. The types, scents and colors of the soap are not important. To make it easier to remember to keep the soap, put a small, decorative container in your medicine cabinet or on the sink so that even your kids can pitch in for the recycling effort.

Make a sturdy soap bag for washing your hands after working or playing outdoors. Cut off a section of a clean old pair of pantyhose, making sure to choose a space without runs. Tie off one end and deposit your collection of soap bits into the bottom. Tie the top end closed and hang the bag near the sink in a workshop, outside or in your garage. When you get the soap bag wet and roll it between your hands, the soap will come through the material.

Stick smaller bits of soap onto a larger bar to make a new bar. Get your soap wet so the surface is malleable and use your fingers to smooth the small bits onto the larger bar. This is particularly effective in a child’s bathroom because the result is colorful and bumpy, making it more entertaining for kids to use.

Soak your leftover pieces of soap in a bowl of water until they are soft; you can also grate solid soap to make the process easier. Using a fork, mix them together until they form a paste. Add a few drops of essential oils to the mixture for scent; you can also drop in oatmeal or herbs for visual appeal and skin-soothing benefits. Smooth your soap paste into soap molds, cookie cutters or candy molds to make new, decorative soaps.

Create a luxurious body scrubber for use in the shower. Find a loofah that is designed to fit a bar of soap in a pocket-like enclosure with a velcro flap. Instead of using a full bar, put your small bits of soap in the pocket. When you use the loofah in the shower, the soap will come through the small holes, making for a foamy scrub.

• Hunter College
• F.I.T., State University of New York
• Cornell University

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The hotel company plans to recycle old soap into 1 million new bars for Global Handwashing Day.

Last May, Hilton conducted a survey asking guests if they look into a hotel’s environmental and social efforts in making their travel plans. They discovered that social, environmental and ethical considerations are important in making booking choices, especially for those younger than 25 years old. Shortly thereafter, the company announced that it would be cutting its environmental footprint in half and doubling its social impact investment by 2030.

“The company will also double the amount it spends with local and minority-owned suppliers, and double its investment in programs to help women and youth around the world,” notes a statement by the company. “These goals are part of Hilton’s Travel with Purpose corporate responsibility strategy to further the United Nation’s 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.”

The chain is also being proactive when it comes to soap. Yes, soap. Which may seem like a random thing to focus on – but think about all of those used-only-a-few-times bars of guest soap left in hotel rooms. In fact:

Two million partially used bars of soap are thrown away every day in the U.S., according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

It is all sent to the landfill, while people across the globe are in need of soap for basic sanitation needs. WHO says that handwashing with soap could save the lives of millions of children.

So Hilton has announced that it will begin gathering the sudsy slivers from guest rooms and recycle them into one million shiny new bars of soap by October 15, Global Handwashing Day. The process involves crushing, sanitizing, and cutting the soap into new bars.

The new initiative is in partnership with Clean the World, with whom the company has already worked on similar projects. According to CNN Business , Hilton’s recycling program has already enabled Clean the World to distribute 7.6 million bars of recycled soap over the past decade, keeping 2 million pounds of soap and bottles out of landfills. So the program isn’t exactly new, but the Global Handwashing Day hook is notable. And according to the company, they plan to expand the existing soap recycling program to all hotels and send zero soap to landfill by 2030.

As CNN notes, “Businesses face disruption from climate change, and customers increasingly demand that products and services are environmentally friendly.” Which is to say, answer those surveys, write letters, leave comments. And this serves as a good reminder: Next time you’re at a hotel, use a single bar of soap between everyone for the duration of your stay. You can even take it home and use it up there – don’t think of it as a bit of lathery leftovers, think of it as a lifesaving necessity that we are privileged to have.

A lot of zero waste bathroom switches involve swapping liquids for bars. How can you get the most out of these bars and make them last as long as possible?

There’s nothing better than a brand-new beautifully crafted soap bar! It’s firm and smooth and feels good in your grip, but they soon start to deteriorate, becoming slippery and slimy, trying to escape your grasp at any chance, and quickly degrading into a small hard-to-use sliver.

Soap bars have so many positives – they can be found with zero packaging, they aren’t mostly made up of water like liquid soaps, they are easier to travel with, you can better control the amount of soap used compared to liquid soap, and they scrub the skin more intensely and stimulate circulation and can contain a natural exfoliant.

Interestingly, a 2009 study by the Institute of Environmental Engineering found that liquid soap has a 25% larger carbon footprint than bar soaps due to the manufacturing process and plastic packaging. And they are more economical as well, with bar soap costing about 0.4 cents per hand wash and the liquid soap costing 3.5 cents per wash.

And, if you’re worried about the rumour that bar soaps transfer bacteria from the bar to the skin, researchers have proven that this is not the case and that they are safe and recommended for use to prevent the spread of disease.

But, soap bars’ tendency to waste away, with precious layers of soap sliding off down the drain, and become sludgy, leaving lathery residue and stubbornly sticking to whatever surface they have been placed on, as well as the fact that it is hard to use up the last little sliver of soap, are often complained about.

So, we searched for solutions to these common #soapproblems and found a few tips and tricks to stop this from happening and to ensure your soap bars last as long as possible and as little as possible is wasted.

Constantly wet soap disintegrates quickly and gets slimy, so you want to keep it away from sources of moisture such as the stream of water from the shower head or a tap and condensation in the shower.

After showering, take your soap out of the shower, shake off any extra water, and put it somewhere it can dry out so it doesn’t stay wet and go slimy and leave a puddle of soap scum. This also makes soap less crumbly.

On a windowsill is the ideal place.

As mentioned above, soap bars need to dry out. The bottom of a soap bar sitting in a pool of water is not going to dry, so you want the least amount of your soap’s surface area to be in contact with the bottom of your soap holder and to store it in a way that enables drainage.

There are a few ways you can do this:

make it stand tall so the smallest surface area in on the surface,

place it on some peddles or marbles,

place it on a piece of loofah, a crocheted or knitted pad made of hemp or a similar material, or a coconut or walnut husk scrubbing brush,

use soap holders that let the soap aerate, for instance ones with bars or big holes like this soap dish (US/CAN), these soap dishes (UK), and this soap dish (AU), or

use a magnet to hold the soap bar up in the air away from any surfaces (Beauty & The Bees sells a wall-mounted magnetic soap holder (AU) or you can try making your own and use a bottle cap to stick a magnet onto the soap).

This ensures air flow around your soap, drying it out completely, and prevents your soap bar from sticking to the surface.

Switch bars out every two weeks or so so that they can dry out completely and harden. The more time your soap spends completely dry, the longer it will last.

It is also recommended that to make soap last longer, if it is not pre-cured (most handcrafted bars are), you should let a soap bar sit out in the open air for six to eight weeks before use to let the soap cure and harden more completely before use.

A washcloth or loofah produces and retains lather better than your hands so use less soap overall because the washcloth will create more lather and the suds it creates will go further when cleaning your body than using your hands. The same goes for washing dishes.

Choose one made from natural materials like these: hemp wash cloth (AU), konjac body sponges (UK), natural silk sea sponge, and agave cloth (both US/CAN) so it can be composted at its end of life.

A soap saver is a pouch you can place your little bits of soap in when they become too small to use easily and the danger of them slipping out of your hands and down the drain is real.

Once you have a few pieces in here you can use the soap-saving pouch to wash with, using up the last dregs of soap inside and exfoliating your skin with the pouch, which acts as a wash cloth.

You can also use to it hang your soap up in the pouch between use so it gets air flow all round and dries out well.

Choose one made from natural materials like these: hemp soap bag (AU) sisal soap pouch (UK), and cotton soap savers (worldwide) so it can be composted at its end of life.

A smaller piece of a soap bar means less to get wet and slimy at one time as it has a smaller surface area overall. So, as you are using a smaller piece each time, only a smaller piece is getting wet each time, while the rest remains dry and ready for use next time.

Yes! In fact it does. Soaps made out of harder fats and oils last longer than those made out of softer, liquid oils. Saturated fats give soap hardness that helps it last longer.

Common saturated fats that are used are tallow (which is beef fat that is a by-product of the meat industry i.e. not vegan), palm oil (which is best avoided due to the environmental problems it is causing), and coconut oil. Another solid fat that is sometimes used is lard, which is from pork so also not vegan. Tallow makes the hardest, longest lasting soap and lard is the next best, providing medium hardness. Vegan vegetable oil-based soaps aren’t as long lasting unfortunately.

Properly cured soap bar also lasts longer. A handmade soap bar should be left to cure for a month before use. This gives it time to harden so it will last longer.

Hopefully these tips help you save some soap! Let us know if you have any soap-saving tips to add in the comments!

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