Founders of the sustainable packaging revolution

Josie Morris. 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.

April, 2023

Sustainability is at the heart of everything Woolcool® does. They have spent more than a decade investing millions of pounds developing temperature-controlled packaging products for the pharmaceutical market, which use 100% sheep’s wool as an alternative to polluting manmade insulation such as polystyrene. 

This revolutionary use of wool – which is recyclable, reusable, renewable, compostable, abundant and part of the natural carbon cycle – means customers use less fuel in their supply chain, reduce their carbon footprint and help avoid tonnes of polystyrene from going into landfill sites across the globe. Woolcool’s 2022 Queens Award for Enterprise: Sustainable Development helps drive home the message that the use of natural materials offers a truly sustainable alternative for businesses that want to seriously address the climate challenges we all face.

With their award-winning track record in providing bespoke passive packaging, Woolcool® pharmaceutical packaging systems offer solutions for a wide range of temperature sensitive products. Whether the objective is to maintain 2-8ºC, 15-25ºC or Controlled Room Temperature (CRT), or frozen temperatures during transit, Woolcool® systems provide insulation and protection for valuable cargo courtesy of the 100% natural wool fibres inside.

The entire Woolcool® pharmaceutical packaging range has been rigorously tested to meet the challenges of temperature controlled logistics and is backed by quantifiable performance data to assist with legislation compliance. Such reassurance has seen Woolcool’s reputation flourish on a global scale.

As well as unrivalled performance, adding further value to Woolcool’s pharmaceutical packaging range are the environmental credentials.

Josie Morris MBE

Managing Director, Woolcool.

The range itself comprises a choice of Rigid and Flexible Systems, both of which suit 2-8ºC and CRT requirements. The Rigid Thermal Packaging System maintains a temperature controlled environment for up to 120 hours, with 2-8ºC lines being used within the pharmaceutical industry to transport a variety of temperature sensitive products, such as vaccinations, botox, insulin, medical devices, AI, dentistry and veterinary products. CRT lines are as equally impressive when transporting similar products locally, nationally and globally.

Woolcool’s Insulated Box Sets contain a strong, robust outer cardboard box with two insulating fleece liners to create a flexible and practical packaging solution for pharmaceutical logisticians. The Insulated Boxes come in six stock sizes and can deliver a payload capacity of up to 30kg, but can also be tailored by size or design to suit specific requirements.

The Flexible Thermal Packaging System is suited to the delivery of smaller quantity pharma products within both 2-8ºC and CRT ranges, maintaining a temperature controlled environment for up to 72 hours. Comprising Insulated Pouches, Carriers and Envelopes in various sizes, the Woolcool® Flexible System is a convenient design, ideal for direct-to-patient delivery where products have mixed temperature demands. As with the boxes, Woolcool® Flexible System products can also be adapted to provide bespoke designs and alternative size options.

As well as unrivalled performance, adding further value to Woolcool’s pharmaceutical packaging range are the environmental credentials. As a 100% natural material, wool is biodegradable, compostable, recyclable, reusable and abundantly available. It lowers the carbon footprint of delivery chains, takes up less room in transit and outperforms manmade insulators such as polystyrene and EPS boxes in many ways. Crucially, available research proves that any long-held concerns that using natural materials means sacrificing performance or costs are unfounded, and in fact, are quite the opposite. For pharma companies looking to take steps to make delivery methods more ecologically sound, while retaining the performance they need, Woolcool provides the best of both worlds.

This article is taken from Pharmaceutical Manufacturing and Packing Sourcer May 2023, pages 72-74. © Samedan Ltd.

Article – Embrace Sustainability with Natural Materials

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