New invention kills germs on reusable bags

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Eight months ago, Earl Yerby was watching a television newscast and saw a report about how quickly germs and bacteria grow inside reusable shopping bags.

He thought someone ought to come up with a way to sanitize those bags.

So he did.

After doing online research, Yerby, 56, found that there were few methods available for sanitizing reusable shopping bags. But he learned that other industries such as air-conditioning and heating system manufacturers used ultraviolet light for sanitation.

So Yerby invented HealthGuard UVC, a UV light system that can sanitize up to four shopping bags in about 30 seconds.

He had the bags tested and said the results showed that the system kills 300 types of bacteria, including salmonella, staph and E. coli.

"Nothing is 100 percent sterile," Yerby said. "But it can be between 93 and 98 percent bacteria-free. ... Right now you can't put a gym bag or most reusable bags in a washing machine and get them effectively clean because they're going to collapse. You can't put the plastic ones in the dryer. ... In order to kill the amount of bacteria and different types this machine does, you have to get up to pressure-cooker type temperature."

HealthGuard is patent-pending and can be customized to fit retail settings. Yerby hopes to start leasing the machines in 2010 for $2,995 a year.

He also has plans to modify the machine for hospital keyboards, gym bags, athletic equipment and other uses that could broaden its appeal.

So far, he has invested about $50,000 in the project and said the risk is worth it.

"You go through life and you sit there and wonder," he said. "You think up something and you think, 'That's a good idea,' but you never follow up on it. And then five or 10 years later, you see someone else come out with it."

The timing for HealthGuard may be perfect, said Richard Hayes, vice president of sales and marketing for UVDI, a California company that makes the UV lights that go into the HealthGuard machines.

"The public is much more aware of transmissible diseases and how they are communicated from person to person," he said. "The awareness that has resulted from the H1N1 pandemic has created opportunities for people to think outside the box, and this is clearly an application that has a lot of potential."

The machine also cashes in on the growing popularity of reusable bags. The bags are now sold by nearly every major retailer, and many stores including CVS, Target and Whole Foods offer shoppers credits for bypassing plastic bags and bringing their own.

"This has gone from something that was done primarily by tree huggers to something that has now become kind of normal," said Joel Makower, executive editor of greenbiz.com, a Web site that focuses on businesses and activities related to the environment.

Contact Sue Stock at sue.stock(at)newsobserver.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com

Must credit The News and Observer of Raleigh, N.C.