The Laveo Dry Flush toilet was invented by the late Rodney Livingston, a gifted engineer and inventor, and veteran of the U.S. Army National Guard.

 

After traveling 8,000 miles on a mission of mercy, Rodney was struck by the extreme poverty and lack of access to modern sanitary water, plumbing, and bathroom facilities in India.

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He returned to the USA in 2009 with the idea to invent a revolutionary portable toilet.

 

With a concept in mind, Rod knew that he needed a business partner with both the necessary startup funds and strong business skills, so he pitched the unrefined idea to his friend and mentor, Bob Roczynski.

 

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Two heads are better than one…

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Born and raised in the New Haven, Connecticut area, Bob graduated from North Haven High School and attended the Porter Chester Institute to study engineering. This was during the peak of the Vietnam era.

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When Bob was drafted, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, serving in Vietnam. When he came home, Bob worked for Xerox Corporation as a technical engineer. He later joined his father’s company, Hamilton Manufacturing, a diversified maker of aerospace components and vinyl molds for record albums in West Haven. His father was a prolific entrepreneur and mentored Bob, who also had a passion for business ownership.

 

In 1977, Bob founded Record Products of America in Hamden, which became a global leader in designing high-end CD mastering systems for plates used in the CD manufacturing process and still exists today.

 

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3-years in the testing bunker!

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After Rod’s pitch in 2009, the two men discreetly began developing their new proprietary product. The R&D process was arduous. They tested concepts, materials, and prototypes in the privacy of their homes for a full 3 years to crack the code of what you see now!

 

In 2012, the toilet was patented, Dry-Flush was founded, and Bob coined the name Laveo™ because he thought it has a nice, quality, European feel to it.

 

Today, the Laveo Dry Flush toilet is being used by more than 15,000 people in more than 13 countries globally for camping, caravanning, RVs, van conversions, boating, off-grid living, tiny homes, at-home-care patients with limited mobility, and other applications as well.

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The new owner of Laveo globally

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Rod, the original inventor, died of cancer in 2018, and as the years passed, Bob reached a point in his life where he wanted to sell the business and do other things (like focusing on his family) with the time he has left.

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He mentioned this to his CPA, who had a client who might be a good buyer. Through this connection, Bob was introduced to Doug Rice, himself a lifelong Connecticut entrepreneur with a family legacy in manufacturing.

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Doug had sold his previous business which he owned for nearly 40 years, Action Packaging Systems in Ellington, and had “retired,” but it’s hard to keep an energetic entrepreneur down!

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Doug purchased Dry-Flush in the summer of 2021.

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His vision for Dry-Flush is to be the respected and trusted global leader in portable toilets and accessories. His passion is to create a growing number of jobs in Connecticut and to contribute to the State’s economy.

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Dry-Flush enjoys an “A” rating from the Better Business Bureau of Connecticut. Under Doug’s leadership, the company continues to have an entrepreneurial “can do” business attitude and culture, with an emphasis on customer service.

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The appointment of Dry Flush Australia Pty Ltd as the exclusive distributor of Dry Flush Laveo products in Australia & New Zealand
 

Much like Doug, Adam has been a lifelong entrepreneur and an investor in various startups.

After becoming the foundational investor in a growing caravan manufacturing business on the Gold Coast of Australia, Goldy Caravans, Adam began looking for a better solution for toilets in his own vans.

 

Like many people, he thought that there must be a better solution than emptying a chemical cartridge or installing a mini-composting system into the confined space of a caravan or camping environment. That’s when he discovered the Laveo dry flush toilet and all of the benefits that it offers.

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After ordering several toilets to install in Goldy’s vans, Adam became convinced that this was the best mobile toilet solution in the world, and he reached out to Doug and his team about securing exclusive distribution rights for the products in Australia and New Zealand.

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Adam and his team are grateful to have been granted those rights and today they are working to grow the Laveo and Dry Flush brands throughout this region.