In Cootamundra at least, the Rotary Club has been busy collecting them and has amassed around 100 kilos of old soap.

They don’t collect it for fun – it’s recycled and then distributed to people who struggle to maintain good hygiene in developing communities and countries.

“A lot of the time you use the soap and leave it on the basin and don’t think about it anymore,” Cootamundra Rotary Club member Jacob Sutherland said.

Mr Sutherland and fellow member Hugh Hamilton will be sending another 15 kilos to be recycled.

“Instead of going to landfill, the soap is recycled for Soap Aid,” Mr Hamilton said.

He said around the world there was around 2.4 billion people who lacked adequate sanitation which leads to around 4000 prevented deaths each day.

Soap Aid helped provide something as basic as a bar of soap to help.

Mr Hamilton said the club weren’t doing it raise funds and they don’t earn anything from the soap collection.

“It’s just something we do to help improve hygiene in emerging communities and countries,” he said.

Mr Hamilton said Soap Aid had helped divert 47 tonnes of used soap from landfill and in 2016 had distributed 368,960 100 gram bars of soap, to schools and families.

Countries which received the soap bars included the Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Papua New Guinea, Cambodia, Fiji and communities in Western Australia and Northern Territory.