Abigail Klein Leichman
October 13, 2016, Updated November 6, 2016

Ohio-based OurPets has entered a strategic partnership with Paulee CleanTec, an Israeli company with a prototype for an innovative, sustainable, eco-friendly solution for dog waste.

“We became excited when we first met Oded Halperin, chairman and founder of Paulee CleanTec, and heard about his pioneering work related to eliminating the problem at the source rather than multiple handling and never really eliminating the waste material,” said Dr. Steven Tsengas, chairman and CEO of OurPet.

“Paulee CleanTec has developed a proof-of-concept patented, portable, safe, inexpensive waste system that uses an exothermic oxidation process to convert animal feces into a pathogen and odor-free ash fertilizer in less than a minute. OurPets and Paulee CleanTec will jointly work together to commercialize the initial portable dog waste product and apply the technology to other pet waste applications,” said Tsengas.

Prototype of the Paulee Cleantec portable waste system for dogs. Photo: screenshot
Prototype of the Paulee CleanTec portable waste system for dog droppings. Photo: screenshot

Halperin said OurPets “has the innovative technology, the marketing and sales channels and most of all the strong entrepreneurial drive” to realize the potential of the Israeli technology, which eventually could be applied also to the management of waste from other animals and even humans.

Last April, the Tel Aviv-based company was chosen as one of four winners of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Nutrient Recycling Challenge – Phase I for its Manure Convertor meant for livestock and dairy cows.

In the United States, approximately 85 million pet dogs produce about 10 million tons of droppings per year (enough to fill a line of tractor-trailers from Seattle to Boston) while 90 million pet cats produce about 2 million tons of litter sent to landfills annually. Improperly disposed pet waste can leach harmful bacteria into groundwater, and potentially carries diseases such as campylobacteriosis, taxoplasmosis and salmolellosis.

According to Packaged Facts, “The US pet industry poop category grew to $3.5 billion in 2016, from $3 billion in 2010, and is expected to grow to $4.0 billion by 2020.”

Paulee’s product idea dovetails with OurPets’ line of patented pet waste management solutions such as automatic litter boxes that incorporate Bluetooth/Wi-Fi technology to better manage and monitor waste activity.

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