WORLD’S ECO-LIFE
Brazil
Making Soap from Used Salad Oil
Anyone can easily make soap without using heat from only three ingredients: water, liquid soda and used salad oil. In the past, in an average home in Brazil, this kind of soap was often made.
In recent years, with a heightened awareness in environmental protection, making soap from used cooking oil is attracting attention. The White Dove Association teaches how to make soap at Mothers’ Study Classes and the members make soap at home. The soap cleans stubborn stains on socks and rags and is very useful.
The White Dove Association has a “hit two birds with a stone” activity: they ask the members to bring their hand-made soap, which they sell at free markets and use the proceeds as a fund for activities.
How to make soap: (1) put on rubber gloves and put 1 litter of water and 1 kg of liquid soda into a pot and mix them well, (2) add 5 litters of used salad oil which has been put through a sieve and mix them until it turns to a jell-like state, (3) pour it into a box which is lined with a plastic bag on the inside and leave it for one night until it solidifies, (4) take it out and lay it on cardboard, upside down, and cut with a knife into pieces of your choice.
Rev. Marie Murakami, Chairperson of the Brazil Missionary Headquarters