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Pioneering Insulated Paper Pouches

Woolcool. Insulated Packaging. Naturally.

Woolcool® was launched in 2008 and the innovative, sustainable design has scooped an impressive haul of awards in the packaging, business and environmental arenas.

October, 2019

Have you heard about the Woolcool® Insulated Paper Pouch? At Woolcool®, we’re a pioneering packaging company known for our green values. Our ground-breaking use of 100% natural sheep’s wool as an insulator in chilled packaging solutions has allowed us to create ecologically-sound products that outperform traditional alternatives such as polystyrene.
The wool we use is naturally abundant, recyclable, compostable, biodegradable and re-usable.

These performance credentials of the Wool fibre, along with it being lightweight and easily tailored into specific sizes, means that parcels shipped using Woolcool® are typically lighter and smaller than the man-made alternatives, helping to significantly reduce the carbon footprint in delivery chains, including completely eliminating the need for temperature-controlled vehicles.

After a decade of research and investment, this ground-breaking approach has created a wide range of chilled packaging solutions, from insulated food bags to pharma solutions, that have seen our packaging company win awards for both the Woolcool® solution and our ecological outlook and ethos.

Always striving to improve and perfect our offering to our customers, we can now announce the launch of a new product representing the next stage of evolution for our multi award-winning temperature-controlled packaging.

Our Woolcool® Insulated Paper Pouch is built with a gusset and features a sealable lip for security in shipment. It offers a significant reduction in plastic whilst maintaining the high standards, quality and performance expected of Woolcool® insulated products.

The outer pouch uses a strong ‘mailer’ paper outer envelope to replace the traditional outer plastic pouch. As this outer envelope isn’t coated, it is fully and easily recyclable. Yet, as it’s made from heavy-duty ‘mailer’ paper, it’s able to withstand the variety of conditions parcels shipped through courier networks experience. What’s more, through investment in research and development, and innovation in our Woolcool® protective liner bag, the Woolcool® liner inside the Insulated Paper Pouch now uses 33% less plastic in its covering.

 

You may wonder why we have retained a protective plastic liner at all – we have asked this of ourselves also. There are a number of reasons why using the protective liner bag is important and at the moment we have not yet found a material with the characteristics to adhere to the standards needed for insulated food bags or temperature-sensitive pharma products.

Firstly, it protects the package’s contents from the moisture produced by ice packs or products within the parcel. We have also chosen to use an easily and widely recycled plastic type. Even with the 33% reduction in plastic in its covering, this liner fully conforms to the grades required to package and send food and pharma products. It also protects the wool inside from leakages, ensuring it remains re-usable for ecologically-minded customers or those companies getting the Woolcool®s returned to use again.

So, at Woolcool®, while as a packaging company we strive to be as ecologically-minded as possible, after over ten years of research we understand the benefits of responsible plastic use.

There have been some really exciting developments in Bio/Compostable plastics in recent times. We are still continually investing in research into all the options out there before moving to a bio-plastic offering. However, whatever we choose must meet our high standards and we must ensure they have the regulations and certification required. Whatever we use must not ultimately have a more negative impact on our planet, whether that is at the beginning, middle or end of its life.

Our wider product range, when compared to man-made options that use insulators such as polystyrene, already represent a 90-95% reduction in plastic use, so our green credentials are already pushing the boundaries. But here’s the thing – taking into account the Woolcool® liner bag reduction, along with the replacement of the plastic pouch with the paper one, our new Woolcool® Insulated Paper Pouch provides further reduction in plastic usage of over 70% when compared to our Plastic Pouch offering.

This is a new line for Woolcool®, and we believe a significant step forward in eco-packaging. We at the Woolcool® packaging company pride ourselves on offering fully-bespoke options to our customers, from insulated food bags to complete boxed options. We aim to continue that ethos with this ground-breaking new Insulated Paper Pouch.

The Insulated Paper Pouch is just the latest innovation at Woolcool®, driven by our belief in the benefits of using natural materials.

The entire product line created by our packaging company provides a wide range of options to help you deliver your temperature-sensitive products, dependent on your unique chain and challenges. We have pouches, envelopes, boxes, insulated food bags – with all kinds of combinations to suit your needs.

We believe in using the right material for the right application, whether that is Wool, Paper and/or Plastic. And we will always work closely with you to find the best performing, most cost-effective but also environmentally-sound solution for your specific requirements.

We will talk you through the benefits of the various combinations that can be applied to suit your purposes. We know that plastics have their benefits, but our new Insulated Paper Pouch provides another option for customers who are striving to reduce their use of it as a material.

We believe that the superior natural insulating properties of wool have been developed and refined by Mother Nature over millions of years of evolution. The insulated paper pouch is just the latest product from Woolcool® that shows we will ensure our ideas continue to evolve too – to protect the planet, as well as the temperature-sensitive contents we help you to deliver.

Our packaging company is always investing in developments and innovation. At Woolcool®, we commit to always work with the same ethos: the right material, for the right application with total transparency on material origins, supply, ingredients and end-of-life impact, to allow a full circular economy analysis, protecting the planet for future generations and not just for now.

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