The Need: Years ago, we noticed the emergence of meal kit companies and emphasis on sustainability for packaging of these kits. There was too much packaging waste when it came to these kits, especially when it came to insulated box liners, as all (at the time) were made of multilaminated material. PAC decided we needed to design insulated box liners and mailers that could be fully recyclable.
The Solution: Years of design and engineering led us to insulated box liners and insulated mailers made of HDPE bubble and blown aluminum. This product suite, CoolPAC, performs better than the multi-lament liner and is fully recyclable. Passing recyclability and sortation tests at PFE and qualifying for the How2Recycle® and NextTrex store drop off program
What makes it particularly smart or circular? By keeping this product out of landfill and in the recycling stream (where it belongs as a valuable commodity) we can keep this circular as it is turned into other products.
Results, Benefits, and Outcomes to Date: After years of design, it took even longer to get qualified as we had to go thru a long process with multiple organizations to qualify for store drop. Key takeaways: Patience and persistence. We were told “no” many times but knew this was important to the circular economy and to our public 2025 pledges
Which of the Pact’s 4 Targets does your work help achieve? Target 2
How are you communicating your success? Internally we have communicated this thru inside channels. Externally this has been communicated via web, social, and direct via our Sales team.
What’s Next? Work more closely with end users in regards to what is most important to them and new features they would like to see.
Core Team, Partners, & Participants: Engineering, Business Development, Sustainability, Sales, Marketing and Operations
Time Frame: 4 years
Quote: “In order to keep up with market sustainability demands and keep on track with our 2025 public pledges, we are more than pleased to come to market with the fully recyclable CoolPAC product line.” – John Bartell, VP of Sustainability, PAC Worldwide
Company/Organization Information: 1975. PAC is headquartered in Redmond, WA. We have over 1,900 employees,
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