Amid a growing number of infestations in the Philadelphia area, Ambler-based entrepreneur H. Augustus Carey has invested $12.6 million into pesticide-treated bedbug-killing bed liners, writes Bob Fernandez for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Carey had previously attempted to enter the pest-extermination market with a mite-killing product that failed to pan out.

Now he is waiting for his latest endeavor to fully catch on. He currently has four employees, a contract plant in the United Kingdom, and around $1 million in yearly sales.

So far, his Allergy Technologies has modestly broken into the hotel market with its permethrin-impregnated liners. Recently, the company also announced a project in a low-income housing complex in Philadelphia.

The aim is to determine if the liners, branded as ActiveGuard, could be used to prevent any future bedbug re-infestations at the complex’s 500 units.

The project also includes pest-sniffing dogs to find units infested by bedbugs, resident education on the insects, and a contracted exterminator. This could cost the company around $200,000, but if it turns out successful, it could nearly half the complex’s bedbug bill from its current $140,000 a year.

Read more about the bedbug-killing bed liners at The Philadelphia Inquirer by clicking here.