Patent Grant
8153578
Recycling and reusing is an important aspect for society and business. Soap is a material which traditionally has not been recycled. The hotel industry is one place that results in a large excess of partially used soap, resulting in waste and environmental issues.
The waste resulting from hotels is an issue to consumers and managers/owners alike. “Consumers are showing that environmental issues remain important to them, despite today's economic challenges. Thirty-two percent of those surveyed agreed that they expect the hotels they stay at to be environmentally friendly, and 29 percent said they would like to know more from hotels about their green efforts. Thirty-seven percent of consumers said they are more aware of the environment than they were a year ago.” (April 2009 Survey by Deloitte)
“. . . [A] recent study by the Center for Hospitality Research at Cornell University stated that the economy and environment are the second most important issues of concern to managers in the lodging industry. Sustainability is an issue that every hotel company must inevitably deal with. The sooner they address it, the better they will be equipped for the future.” (“Sustainability—Putting a Face to the Name” by Christian Anklin and Pierre Ricord)
The Sheraton Rittenhouse Square Hotel illustrates that customers do not have to sacrifice quality for sustainability. The extra costs involved in being environmentally responsible have been made up in increased occupancy rates. The Green Hotel Initiative may be well on its way to showing the hotel industry that there is room to be green.
Furthermore, there is a grave need in the world for usable soap. More than five million children die annually due to Acute Respiratory Illness and Diarrheal Illness. This is the leading cause of death among children worldwide. Eighty-five percent of diarrheal deaths occur during the first year of life, and approximately 4.6 million children under the age of five in developing countries die from diarrheal diseases each year. (IH 887, Baysac, Beilstein, 1999)
Studies on thousands of people show simple hand washing can reduce effects by 40%-65%. “Children younger than 15 years living in households that received handwashing promotion and plain soap had a 53% lower incidence of diarrhea compared with children living in control neighborhoods.” (JAMA, Luby, Agboatwalla, Painter, Altaf, Billhimer, Hoekstra, 2004)
“On current evidence, washing hands with soap can reduce the risk of diarrheal diseases by 42-47% and interventions to promote handwashing might save a million lives.” (The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Curtis, Cairncross, 2003)
In one embodiment, a method for recycling soap includes scraping the surface of a soap bar; soaking the soap bar in a cleansing solution; steaming the soap bar using a steaming unit; and cooling the soap bar. In one alternative, the scraping is performed with a bladed implement. Optionally, the cleansing solution includes dimethyl benzylammonium chlorides monohydrate. Alternatively, the soap bar is placed on a rack in the steaming unit. In one alternative, a pan is placed under the rack. In one alternative, the steaming unit is a Rational Clima Plus Combi unit. In another alternative, the steaming is for a period of five minutes at 212° F. In another alternative, the cooling is in a refrigerator unit at 38° F. for at least seven minutes. In another alternative, the method further includes packing the soap bar for reuse.
In another embodiment, a method for recycling soap includes scraping the surface of a soap bar using a bladed implement; soaking the soap bar in a cleansing solution including dimethyl benzylammonium chlorides monohydrate; placing the soap bar on a rack in a Rational Clima Plus Combi unit; placing a pan under the rack; steaming the soap bar using the Rational Clima Plus Combi unit for five minutes at 212° F.; cooling the soap bar in a refrigerator unit at 38° F. for at least seven minutes; and packaging the soap for reuse.
In another embodiment, a method for recycling soap includes scraping the surface of a soap bar; and soaking the soap bar in dimethyl benzylammonium chlorides monohydrate.
One embodiment of a soap recycling method is shown in
In step 115, the scraped soap bars are soaked in a cleansing solution. In one alternative, Victory Cleansing solution is used (Mfg: Bar Maid; Active Ingredients: n-Alkyl (C14 95%, C12 3%, C16 2%) dimethyl benzylammonium chlorides monohydrate; Inert Ingredients: (50%)). A variety of disinfectants can be used for this step. Disinfectants include, but are not limited to, alcohols, aldehydes, oxidizing agents, phenolics, quaternary ammonium compounds (as in the above Victory Cleansing example), etc. Ultraviolet light is an alternative disinfectant. Certain disinfecting agents may have interactions with the soap and, therefore, are less desirable as a disinfecting agent. For instance, alcohols and oxidizing agents may dissolve the soap more rapidly than quaternary ammonium compounds. Surfactants may be included in the disinfectant mixture in order to improve wetting and lower interfacial tension. In one alternative, a concentrated solid form cleansing solution precursor is added to a water bath to form the cleansing solution. Soap bars 210 are added to bath 220, as shown in
In step 120, the soap is removed from the bath and placed on a rack as shown in
In step 130, as shown in
In step 140, the soap is cooled. As shown in
In step 145, the soap is repackaged for reuse. As shown in
One embodiment of the system may include a surface cleaning area, operated by humans, or automated; a soaking area, in which bars are soaked; a steaming unit; a cooling unit; and a packaging unit. Note that the transportation of soap between areas and units may be automated, as may the tasks at each stage/unit.
One embodiment of a method of soap collection and recycling includes a number of steps. Soap recycling awareness posters are hung in housekeeping areas. Soap recycling containers or bags are included in housekeeping carts. In addition to bar soap, liquid soap is collected from rooms. Housekeepers collect soap and shampoo and place them in collection containers or bags. In one alternative, housekeepers sort the soap and shampoo into separate bags. Bins or other containers are provided to collect the bags/containers in housekeeping staging areas. The bins are picked up for soap recycling. Collection bins have a secured top, a shipping label is applied, and the bins are shipped to a recycling plant.
For liquid soap, bottles less than ⅓ filled are consolidated into one gallon jugs. Bottles more than ⅓ filled are processed. Empty bottles are recycled. Sufficiently full bottles are topped off and cleaned to remove loose shampoo with water and chlorine. One gallon jugs may be distributed to domestic homeless shelters or other desired users. Bar soap may be cleaned as described above and distributed.
Although the present invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, this description is not meant to be construed in a limited sense. Various modifications of the disclosed embodiments, as well as alternative embodiments of the present invention, will become apparent to persons skilled in the art upon the reference to the description of the present invention.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2057192 | Hutton | Oct 1936 | A |
| 2620511 | Marshall et al. | Dec 1952 | A |
| 4168550 | Lindauer | Sep 1979 | A |
| 7459418 | Ozment | Dec 2008 | B1 |
| 20070241306 | Wehner et al. | Oct 2007 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20110112001 A1 | May 2011 | US |
