A Perth startup that has found a solution to a common everyday frustration — the lack of dog bags in public areas for furry companions and the time, costs and resources it takes for local councils to refill them — and has secured a three-year supply contract with the City of Swan in Western Australia for its smart dog bag dispensers.
Founded by CEO Peter Konstek, Little Rippers is an Australian-designed, owned and run company, that provides dog bag dispensers and maintenance with patented smart sensing technology that tackles the plastic waste and service issues for councils and aims to transform the way dog owners interact with the local community.
The company’s smart dog bag dispensers are equipped to dispense compostable bags precisely when and where they are needed most. The devices also alert councils when the bags are running low through a sensor in the dispensers, ensuring a constant supply of bags.
Little Rippers currently has a number of regional councils running trials, including the City of Bunbury, Shire of Murray, City of Karratha and Shire of Shark Bay, with Konstek confirming that “all are reporting great value in our product and technology”.
Konstek told SmartCompany he decided to start Little Rippers because he spotted a problem.
“After realising how many dispensers councils have and how hard it must be to keep them full and keep ratepayers happy, I decided to solve the problem,” he says.
“The contract [with the City of Swan] confirms that councils are willing to adopt and change with new technologies that save time, money and increase the service levels they provide to their residents, and that was our direct intention when creating our product.”
Little Rippers is planning to continue to work within Western Australia for the rest of the year and then roll out across Australia.
At the same time, the company will be looking to enter international markets via local distributors.
Konstek says after researching various products, he quickly realised that no one was innovating in this space.
“I arranged a meeting with my local council to talk about how they maintain their dispensers and quickly realised the scale of the issue,” he says.
“They have hundreds of units that are checked weekly. Most still have bags, and some have been empty for too long.
“From there I created a prototype and ran some trials with the City of Fremantle to refine our product. Following successful trials, we opened the trials to more councils to get more data and feedback.
“We have since gone live with our production product in July 2023.”
Little Rippers uses Internet of Things technology to communicate with its platform, which Konstek says gives the councils full real-time visibility over their dispenser fleet. It is also done at approximately the same price as current analogue systems, adds Konstek.
“Ultimately this can revolutionise the way they maintain their dispensers, which saves time and money whilst increasing the service they deliver to the councils,” he says.
Konstek credits the City of Fremantle’s support and partnership as integral to the product’s evolution, with the council working with Little Rippers for six months to refine the concept and craft a solution fit for purpose.
