New toilet gizmo marketed and packaged in Kalamazoo-area helps save water

by Aaron Aupperlee | Kalamazoo Gazette

Friday July 17, 2009, 8:03 AM

 

 

PORTAGE -- Rather than watch Kalamazoo's economy swirl down the tubes, Patrick Hanna saw a way to keep business and jobs in the area.

Hanna and his company, One2products, assembled a team of Kalamazoo-area businesses to put the One2flush, a dual-action toilet system, on the shelves of several national retailers.

"I don't know how many jobs we've created, but we've kept a few employed," Hanna said.

The system screws into the tank of a conventional toilet and adjusts the amount of water used in a flush. A modified handle that replaces the traditional handle on the front of the toilet can be turned one way for "No. 1" (liquid waste) and another way for "No. 2" (solid). The system could save a family of four 10,000 gallons of water a year, Hanna said.

"It's just so environmentally positive, everyone should have one," said David Bills, director of research and development for One2products.

It is not a new idea. Dual-flush toilets were installed at Western Michigan University's College of Health and Human Services building, can be found in Europe, are for sale in some U.S. retail stores and are popular in jets and RVs.

But Bills, who originally brought the idea to Hanna, noticed that few were marketing the product in the United States and that few were marketing it well. Hanna found a model made in China that worked with nearly all types of home toilets and at a good price. The One2flush will sell in U.S. stores for $29.95.

Hanna and Bills teamed up with Thomas Mills, a graphic-design professor at the Kalamazoo Valley Community College Center for New Media, and a student of his, Thomas Wrench, to design the label and marketing campaign. Julie Cook of Elation 360 initiated the public relations campaign. River Run Press in Parchment did the printing. Marketing Pipeline in Portage handled the Web site. Arvco Container Co. in Kalamazoo produced the boxes, and employees at Goodwill Industries put the boxes together and prepared them for shipping.

"Just in the development process, we probably touched 15 to 20 people," Bills said.
On Thursday, Cortez Brayboy, a Goodwill employee, and Doris Tipken, Goodwill's industrial-services supervisor, assembled the flashy octagonal boxes and stuffed them with One2flush systems. The company's first order, 24 cases, will leave shortly for a distribution center in Prescott Valley, Ariz.

Packaging of the One2flush will ramp up in the next weeks as the company fills orders for Ace Hardware, True Value, Do-It-Best and www.walmart.com, the online arm of retail giant Wal-Mart. Hanna expects to ship well more than 20,000 next month.

"The more units, the more jobs," said Jon Isley, director of new-business development at Goodwill.

The effect of Hanna's one product on Kalamazoo's economy may be small -- one new client for some businesses, a few jobs at Goodwill -- but Hanna said he hopes the infrastructure he put together for the One2flush will work with other products.

"In this kind of economy, everyone has a good idea, and they're trying to make some extra money," Hanna said. "What they don't understand is how to take that good idea and bring it to market."

Contact Aaron Aupperlee at aaupperlee@kalamazoogazette.com or (269) 388-8576.