Soap Aid with Woollahra Group

  • Published on Dec. 22, 2025

  • 5 min

Sodexo Australia has joined forces with Soap Aid and the Woollahra Group, a 100% Aboriginal-owned business specialising in the manufacture and distribution of cleaning, janitorial, and hygiene products, to launch the Soap Aid Camp to Community Programme.

The Landscape  

Access to basic hygiene products, especially soap, remains a critical challenge for vulnerable communities. Globally, inadequate hygiene contributes to thousands of preventable deaths each day.

Here in Australia, the Good360 2024–25 findings reveal that over 4 million Australians are experiencing hygiene poverty, with many still worried they won’t be able to afford essential hygiene items in the near future.

Despite this rising need, business donations of hygiene products have declined by 43%, leaving community organisation's struggling to support people facing continued cost of living pressures. Soap, one of the simplest, most effective tools for preventing illness, is often the item people go without.

Meanwhile, millions of usable bars of soap end up in landfill. By recycling and redistributing this soap to community groups, we can strengthen hygiene access, improve health outcomes, and restore dignity for people doing it tough.

Partnership in action 

The partnership shares Soap Aid’s values and is committed to generating tangible social outcomes for Indigenous communities nationwide.

Traditionally, Soap Aid’s efforts focused on hotels as their primary source of waste soap. By partnering with Sodexo, which operates across more than 100 Energy and Resources sites in Australia, on and offshore, the programme further expands its impact to remote and regional communities.

 

This partnership serves as a blueprint for scaling soap recycling efforts across the country, ensuring recycled soap and hygiene resources reach those who need them most.

 

By utilising Woollahra Group’s expertise to distribute the recycled Healthy Hands soap bars from Sodexo's remote Fly-In, Fly-Out (FIFO) accommodation facilities, we are enhancing sanitation standards while strengthening meaningful partnerships with Indigenous businesses.

Through our partnership with Soap Aid, Sodexo Australia is helping ensure essential soap reaches the communities that need it most, reducing waste, supporting community organisations, and contributing to healthier, more resilient communities

Results

The outcome? 15,100 newly crafted soap bars.

Here’s what these numbers truly represent: 

  • Over 130 families supplied with a year supply of lifechanging soap, along with hygiene education materials.
  • 1258 children provided with lifechanging hygiene supplies and hygiene education, with 553 lives statistically saved due to improved hygiene practices.
  • So far, we’ve saved 2.17 tCO2e from entering the atmosphere. This is equivalent to 922 litres of fuel saved or about 12,631 kilometres not driven on the road

The pilot of the Soap Aid Camp to Community programme launched at a single Sodexo-operated site and delivered incredible results within its first few months. Over 1,510 kilograms of soap were collected for recycling.

 

With the growth of Soap Aid’s operations fuelled by this partnership, there is now potential to extend its workforce.

 

Woollahra Group’s involvement as a 100% Indigenous-owned partner creates an exciting pathway for economic empowerment of Indigenous people.

 

For Woollahra Group, Sodexo has become a critical partner in driving their mission forward. As their largest client, Sodexo’s support has enabled Woollahra Group to expand their operations and amplify their reach, creating valuable opportunities for economic empowerment within Indigenous communities

 

Looking ahead, Sodexo aims to expand this initiative to additional locations around the country, further amplifying its impact across regional and remote Australia.

Sodexo’s RAP Journey 

Sodexo’s journey with the Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) began in 2011, and our commitment to fostering meaningful change has only grown stronger. In the last four years alone, we’ve spent over $100 million with more than 50 Indigenous-owned businesses, reinforcing our dedication to supplier diversity and economic empowerment.

Our focus goes beyond numbers — we strive to build lasting partnerships with Indigenous businesses and vendors, creating a ripple effect of positive economic outcomes for communities across Australia.

To deliver on our RAP commitments, we actively prioritise direct recruitment, career pathways, relationship building with Traditional Owners, community engagement, and nurturing Indigenous business partnerships. Together, we’re fostering shared success and lasting impact.