Startup Spotlight: Optimal Bagging and the Quest for Better Trash Bags
The whole thing began in 2010, when now-CEO Patrick Breslend realized that the trash bags we all stand around shaking have serious flaws. “The night I put it all together was New Year’s Eve," said Breslend. "I was fed up with my current trash bag system. I sat and discussed the idea of how to package bags that would make them easy to use. I designed the first prototype that night, and it has been a roller coaster ride ever since.”
The Trash Bag, Optimized
Driven by his New Year's Eve run-in with the trash bag status quo, Breslend cooked up an idea that combined his background in engineering with a swiftly emerging entrepreneurial streak. He felt it was imperative that the process of taking out trash be reimagined and recreated. “Inefficient processes bother me like a crooked picture frame bothers an interior designer. I recognized how much time and effort went into replacing the trash bag,” Breslend said. His prototype soon took on a life of its own, leading him to a patent and, eventually, to Optimal Bagging, a Tallahassee-based startup with multiple team members.
Optimal Bagging is accepting pre-orders in the lead up to their Kickstarter campaign in early 2015.
Breslend's product focuses heavily on efficiency, operating under the utility-minded mantra 'Quicker. Easier. Smarter.' Optimal Bagging was built with a simple question in mind: If taking out the trash is the main objective then why is all the time spent fumbling with the bag? For Optimal Bagging, that question is answered by the Quick-Pack, a trash bag multi-pack that attaches to the edge of a trash can. It uses easy-to-find pull tabs that quickly set each bag into place, a process similar to that of tissues in a box. Each tab holds 20+ foldable and universally disposable trash bags that fit a range of cans.
The (Trash Bag) Revolution Will Be Crowdfunded
With the product development process completed, Optimal Bagging is focused on manufacturing. “We are currently talking with bag machine manufactures to get a quote for our first machine. This will allow us to scale the business up and begin selling product,“ Breslend said.
Optimal Bagging will soon launch their first crowdfunding campaign to help fund the Quick-Pack's manufacturing. “The next goal is a small Kickstarter to raise money for engineers to design the machine," Breslend said. "This proof of concept/ feasibility analysis is a step towards gaining serious investors ready to scale the business."
Optimal Bagging in on a mission to take out their trash bag competitors. Follow their journey to market domination on Facebook.