Portable Sanitation Association International

ASSOCIATIONINSIGHT Portable Sanitation Association International News BIWEEKLY EDITION MARCH 17, 2021 Page 4 Industry Pioneers: Ed Cooper, George Harding, and PolyJohn…continued from page 3 George Harding A brief biography of this traveling salesman who visited Ed and George on that day is in order. During the 1930s George Harding was a senior manager with an upstart automobile company, General Motors, which had been founded 20 years prior. During World War II, George Harding was a senior staff member in the Department of Strategic Metals where he worked in building the Liberty Class Navy Cargo Ships. With 18 shipyards scattered on the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts, it is believed that George Harding became aware of "portable latrines" or "portable outhouses" that were being used in the navy shipyards in Long Beach, California. In the 1950s, Harding entered another diverse field and became involved with the fiberglass boat industry. This became yet another area of expertise that would guide him in his future work in the portable sanitation industry as fiberglass was the replacement for the original wooden portable restroom units. According to the PolyJohn website, "Harding also started an underwater photography business with Walt Disney as a partner." Instead of retiring, George Harding later became obsessed with the new "wonder material" of polyethylene. He literally invented, and patented, the polyethylene portable toilet. Patent #3,447,167 changed our industry. George Harding put in his patent description that it was for "a portable toilet cabana that would be made out of a rigid plastic rather than wood or metal." Over his lifetime, George Harding was involved in at least 13 patents for portable sanitation equipment—quite an accomplishment! Harding was the consummate salesman and, according to PolyJohn, "traveled throughout the US and Canada with two toilet units on a trailer pulled by his car." This was the man who paid a call on Ed Cooper and George Hiskes that day. Unfortunately, the PSAI cannot locate any photos of George Harding. 1984 Lunch Meeting and the Formation of PolyJohn Oh, to have been a fly on the wall at that lunch! These three dynamic and innovative entrepreneurs in the portable sanitation industry struck a deal to design and manufacture a new line of plastic restrooms. Soon after all the details of this arrangement were completed, PolyJohn was formed in 1984. So as to not compete with his customers who were in the portable restroom rental business, Ed sold Service Sanitation to his cousin, Rich Solle. Rich then grew Service Sanitation into an even larger firm which he eventually sold to the Yonker family who still owns it today. The first PolyJohn manufacturing facility was located in Orillia, a city in Ontario, Canada, after the purchase of Rama Plastics. Rama is a First Nations community located on the Chippewas of Rama First Nation reserve in Ontario. Chippewas of Rama First Nation reserve. Continued on page 10

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