CycleWood Solutions Signs Agreement to Produce 'Green' Bags for Pet Waste

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CycleWood Solutions' booth at Natural Products Expo West 2015, held March 5-8 in Anaheim, California. The expo is the world's largest event devoted to natural and specialty food and beverages, organics, supplements, health and beauty, natural living and pet products

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A technology company whose growth was cultivated by the Arkansas Research and Technology Park has signed an exclusive agreement to produce a line of eco-friendly waste pickup bags for pet owners.

Nhiem Cao, president and chief executive officer of cycleWood Solutions Inc., said the company’s trademarked Xylomer lignin technology will be used in the production of the new “Green Pups” line for the Bags on Board brand by Dallas-based The Bramton Company.

“Waste pick-up bags are a perfect application for our technology,” Cao said. “We are able to substitute a sustainable alternative in place of plastic without sacrificing performance.”

The Xylomer technology blends lignin, an organic byproduct from paper mills and biofuel plants, with a compostable material. The leak-proof and odor-controlling bags will be available in pet specialty stores this summer.

“Our partnership with cycleWood Solutions will allow us to provide affordable, environmentally sensible bags that also do the job they’re needed for,” said Matt Smith, vice president of marketing for The Bramton Company.

Cao incorporated cycleWood Solutions with co-founder Kevin Oden in the fall of 2011, and they maintain an office at the Arkansas Research and Technology Park in Fayetteville. They are both graduates of the University of Arkansas, each holding a bachelor’s degree in engineering and a master of business administration.

Cao and Oden developed the award-winning business concept for cycleWood Solutions in 2011 with other M.B.A. students in the New Venture Development class taught by management professor Carol Reeves in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the U of A.

The National Science Foundation awarded the company a $741,221 Phase II grant through the Small Business Innovation Research Program last fall, just a few months after cycleWood Solutions launched its first Xylobag consumer trash bags.

Bags on Board and cycleWood Solutions will donate a portion of all Green Pups sales to the Arbor Day Foundation to plant new trees. The companies have committed to help plant at least 5,000 new trees in the first year of sales of Green Pups.

About cycleWood Solutions Inc.: cycleWood Solutions is recognized as a global leader in commercialization of lignin thermoplastic technology. It has received numerous awards for its patented Xylomer technology, including a 2012 Bronze Edison Award and 2011 CleanTech Open South Central Region Champion.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.