Wisbusiness: The Podcast

This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” features Erin Tenderholt, founder of a Madison-based startup called Blexx. Tenderholt has created a new patent-pending technology in hopes of improving how people dispose of hypodermic needles. “This cost is bigger than you imagine. Ask a nurse, ask a tattoo parlor, ask a funeral home director about their experience with hypodermic needles,” she said. “The time to change this is now.” She notes that Americans go through 7 billion hypodermic needles each year. The current method of disposal requires several logistical steps, including a disposal unit, transportation and storage resulting in incineration off-site. “This long process is costly, unsafe and terrible for the environment,” she said. To improve that process, Tenderholt has created a prototype device -- about the size of a large water bottle -- which can sanitize and destroy needles within seconds. “We make needle disposal safer by having less people come in contact with contaminated needle