Rogers firm develops cart-sanitation system
Posted on Friday, August 29, 2008
ROGERS — A Rogers startup company, Sanitize Systems, is ready to take its shoppingcart disinfecting process to the in-store test phase, company President Ryan Johnson said Thursday.
Johnson’s system uses a highpressure mist that contains hydrogen peroxide to kill bacteria, including salmonella and E. coli, on contact. As demonstrated Thursday at the company’s test laboratory, the mist system allows the carts to dry quickly while leaving little or no mess on the floor.
The mist consists of one part hydrogen peroxide to 187 parts water.
Without specifically naming Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Johnson said a “major national retailer” could have a pilot project in place as early as next week. Johnson built his laboratory to the exact dimensions of the shopping cart storage room of the Wal-Mart Supercenter on Pleasant Grove Road in south Rogers.
Wal-Mart spokesman Dan Fogleman said the Bentonvillebased company has been approached by other firms proposing cart sanitation methods, but that it would be premature to say a relationship has been established with another firm.
“We’ve tried some products but, quite frankly, they haven’t proved to us they are effective,” he said.
Johnson said he also has had discussions with Target Corp., The Kroger Co. and Safeway Inc. ’s Tom Thumb supermarket group.
Citing tests by the University of Arizona on 800 surfaces in public places in four cities, Johnson said shopping carts ranked No. 4 in germ count behind playgrounds, bus rails and armrests, and public restrooms.
Sanitize Systems currently consists of Johnson, an operations manager, an installation manager and two engineers at a partner company in Minnesota. He said he is partially self-funded but also has backing from private investors.
About a dozen plumbing contractors have been lined up across the nation to install the systems, he said. A two-man crew can install the system in about 45 minutes.
Johnson studied advertising and public relations at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, and said he has owned and been involved with advertising companies.
He said he got the idea for sanitizing shopping carts after seeing an ABC network news report on the issue in 2007. The report included an interview with state Rep. Fred Allen, D-Little Rock, who sponsored a bill that encourages retailers to provide shoppers with sanitary wipes for carts.
The bill was passed into law, but it has no enforcement provisions.
Allen was at Sanitize Systems’ offices at 1726 Acorn Drive on Thursday while Johnson demonstrated his system for reporters. “I think he’s on the cutting edge of technology, and there is a need for assistance like this, not just in the state of Arkansas but across America,” Allen said. Although the bill he sponsored was voluntary, he said, “it raised the consciousness and it brought this to light, so the legislation worked.” Johnson said the company would likely charge less than $ 2, 000 a month per store for the system, which is completely automated. “They don’t do anything except, basically, pay the monthly fee,” he said.
To contact this reporter: spainter@arkansasonline. com
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