Recycled soap from Atlanta hotel rooms is on the way to Africa.

Derreck Kayongo, co-founder of the Global Soap Project, has shipped two boxes each containing 300 bars of soap to a Christian youth organization, New Song of Grace Uganda, he told GlobalAtlanta. Shipping costs were $86 through the U.S. Postal Service, he added.

It marks the first shipment of soap for the nonprofit organization Mr. Kayongo and his wife, Sara, founded last year.

“This is a dream come true that we’ve actually shipped processed soap and are getting it in the hands of those who need it the most,” said Mr. Kayongo. “This is the first step in a long journey for us.”

The project was launched to collect slightly used soap that hotel cleaning crews routinely toss in the trash and reprocess it for use in Africa. Mr. Kayongo, a field coordinator for Atlanta-based relief agency CARE, and his wife are originally from Uganda.

Atlanta hotels responded immediately, donating tons of soap that is now stored in an Alpharetta warehouse.

As the project gained national and international attention, soap donations and requests for soap have multiplied.

In November, the Seaport Hotel in Boston shipped a ton of donated soap to Atlanta. The soap project has now accumulated 10 tons of soap, Mr. Kayongo said.

The original plan was to ship the soap in bulk to Africa where it would be reprocessed and distributed. For now, the Soap Project is reprocessing soap in Atlanta, using a small soap-making machine recently purchased for $1,400. The machine sterilizes the used soap and shapes it into small bars which are then placed in plastic bags for reshipment.

The soap project hopes to soon send soap to earthquake victims in Haiti as well.

So far, the Soap Project has received $2,000 in cash donations and continues to work on financing a large shipment of soap to Africa.

The project continues to get requests from throughout the world for soap, particularly from orphanages, Mr. Kayongo said.

The OGRA Foundation in Kenya is one organization that would like to partner with the soap project, said Christine Pence, a registered nurse from Philadelphia who is working with the foundation.

“To date we have set up fresh water stations in an orphan feeding center and in a primary school which services the Nyalenda slum area,” she told GlobalAtlanta by e-mail. “We have also completed hand washing education and hand washing stations at both these sites, as well as a village clinic.”

Interest in the OGRA project has increased because of a recent cholera outbreak, said Ms. Pence.

“Our long term goal is to set up a soap factory and water filter factory, whereby proceeds will be re-invested to support fresh water and hygiene programs throughout our region,” she said. “However, in the short term, we will need to continue to access soap in the most economical means possible.  We hope the Global Soap Project may have an interest in partnering with us as we continue to provide this much needed service.”

To learn more about the Soap Project, click here. For more on the OGRA Foundation, click here.