Zappos is composting! It’s true; we have partnered with A1 Organics to collect and compost the food scraps and paper products that are generated in the Z-Bistro. For the last few months, we have been testing the compost collection system inside the kitchen where food scraps from daily prep are separated and collected for composting. Recently, we extended the reach of the collection to include the leftover food scraps, napkins, and paper plates from the dining room. More than 1,000 meals are served a day - this makes for a lot of scraps!

Just to be clear, we are not composting on-site since we don’t have a worm farm out back (but how cool would that be!). Rather, we are sending our compostable materials to A1’s facility north of Las Vegas. A1 has over 50 acres of land dedicated to making 24,000 tons of mulch and compost a year from the food scraps collected from Zappos, supermarkets and Strip casinos, and green waste from many local landscaping companies and golf courses. After 90 days of processing, the mulch and compost returns to the city and is sold at local nurseries – a great life cycle story.

In typical Zappos style, we had a party to celebrate our composting initiative. The day-long “compost party” featured education from LEAF and A1 Organics and muddy cup treats from the Z-Bistro kitchen team. Mmm, tasty!

A few weeks ago, LEAF had the opportunity to recycle something a little less conventional than plastic or paper; we recycled soap! Sounds strange, yes, but once you learn where the finished product goes to, you might think a little differently. 

Clean the World is a non-profit organization that collects discarded soap, shampoo, and conditioner from hotels and resorts around the country. Clean the World sanitizes the soap at their facilities and then repurposes it by giving it to communities in need. By partnering with hotels and resorts from all 50 states, and even some Canadian provinces, Clean the World has eliminated 2.2 million pounds of hotel waste. Wow! 

But, why recycle soap? Soap is powerful enough that it can reduce the effects of two very common and fatal diseases: acute respiratory infection and diarrheal disease, which are responsible for taking hundreds of thousands of lives annually.

Once the discarded soap has been cleaned, sanitized and rid of all pathogens, the product is then donated to countries all around the world in efforts to help save lives. So far, more than 11 million bars of soap have been donated to more than 55 countries! Through the use of the soap donated by Clean the World, these at-risk communities are able to continue living their lives with a little less worry and a lot more smiles!

To help this amazing cause, LEAF visited the Clean the World facility in Las Vegas to volunteer our time and hands. Our task for the afternoon was to separate the little amenity bottles that were collected at resorts such as Caesars Palace, Venetian, Wynn and Planet Hollywood. And as you can tell by the pictures, there were thousands of bottles at the warehouse!

The LEAF team had a great time sorting the bottles while music was jamming in the background. We've decided to add this outing to our Zappos monthly volunteer events calendar (called “Karma Adventures”), so that many more Zapponians can contribute to this awesome cause!