SunTrust Provides $1.5M to Clean the World for Global Expansion

SunTrust has provided more than $1.5 million in term loan and working capital financing to support Clean the World, a global social enterprise and a leader in global health dedicated to WASH (water, sanitization and hygiene) and global sustainability.

This financing will support the global expansion of the company’s hospitality recycling program, the addition of internal and customer facing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) technology, the onboarding of new brand standard partnerships and the enterprises expansion in the impact event space. Further, Clean the World will be able to grow its staff focused on the global growth of their health, hygiene distribution, education programs and volunteerism, thereby helping more local communities worldwide.

“Clean the World has grown rapidly in the last 10 years, including expansion into Asia and Europe. Unfortunately, there is still a huge need for our impact platform to partner with hotels around the globe so that we can provide access to hygiene products, clean water and hygiene education to those in need," said Shawn Seipler, founder and CEO of Clean the World, in a statement. “Hotels are adopting our planet-protecting and lifesaving recycling program at an incredible rate that brings in hundreds of pounds of discarded hygiene amenities to our recycling operation centers. With the support of SunTrust, we will be able to engage with more partners, in a more meaningful and efficient way, and collect more products to be recycled and distributed to the local and global communities that we serve."

The hospitality industry discards millions of soap bars daily into landfills, damaging our planet’s resources. Clean the World embraces this incredible opportunity, creating a truly sustainable and lifesaving solution. Since 2009, Clean the World has distributed more than 48 million soap bars globally to 127 countries with the onboarding of more than 8,000 hospitality partners. The company recycles from more than 1,100,000 hotel rooms daily, diverting 20 million pounds of waste from landfills. It has contributed to a 60 percent reduction in pre-adolescent deaths from hygiene-related illnesses by providing soap and hygiene education to make hand washing a lifelong habit and encourage vigorous childhood development.

“We are extremely impressed with Clean the World’s commitment to the environment and sustainability,” said Abhi Vyas, Commercial Banking relationship manager at SunTrust, in a statement. “We were proud to provide this financing to support Clean the World’s growth and help them to achieve their vision of sending zero soap to landfills by 2030.”