Technological watch
Igloo Is Making Changes to Become the World’s Most Environmentally Friendly Cooler Company
KATY, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In an effort to allow consumers to “DO MORE WITH LESS,” Igloo revealed a new business category focused on community stewardship and education through more thoughtful products and initiatives. Following last year’s award-winning debut of the world’s first eco-friendly cooler, RECOOL®, Igloo evolved a single product into an entire category of its business with RECOOL®, Repreve® soft side coolers, Thermecool™ Eco Foam Insulation, the world’s first Bioplastic cooler, and much more. Igloo is committed to leading the cooler industry to shrink its footprint on the planet.
“The launch of RECOOL® was groundbreaking and it changed the way we viewed our products and our footprint as a business,” stated Dave Allen, Igloo CEO and President. “We are proud to expand our ECO category to become an entire collection and look forward to seeing customers creating new memories with our more environmentally conscious products.”
Highlights of Igloo’s new initiatives include:
RECOOL®: RECOOL® is the world’s first cooler made from biodegradable materials and is an environmentally sensitive alternative to harmful single-use EPS foam coolers. RECOOL® has sold over 250k units to date and every single one represents an EPS foam cooler that stays off the market, out of landfills and waterways.
IGLOO REPREVE®: Igloo REPREVE® soft side coolers are a thoughtful way of carrying lunch and snacks. REPREVE® by Unifi is a fabric made from recycled plastic bottles. On average 9 plastic bottles are used to make one Igloo soft side cooler. Igloo will bring over 20 bag styles in this collection to market in 2020, representing over 1,000,000 plastic bottles recycled.
Thermecool™ Insulation: In response to new California Air Resource Board (CARB) regulations, Igloo partnered with BASF to engineer a completely new, proprietary insulation formula in every one of its hard-side coolers manufactured in the USA. With a multi-million-dollar investment and over 9 months of development, Thermecool™ is now being used in every single one of Igloo’s 16 million coolers made in their Katy, TX manufacturing plant in 2020 and beyond. The new foam formula is over 50 times better for the environment than the CARB standards. In 2020 alone, Igloo’s change to Thermecool™ insulation will have a net effect similar to removing over 86,000 cars from American roads for a year!
BIOPLASTIC: Igloo announced the development of the world’s first bioplastic cooler, expected to hit the consumer market in early 2021. The iconic Igloo Playmate will be the first style made from a new plastic compound derived from sugarcane plants. This innovation with bioplastics may signal less dependence on petroleum based resins for the entire cooler industry.
LOGISTICS: Igloo products are manufactured in the USA, at their 1.8 million square foot facility in Katy, TX. Unlike nearly every competitor in the cooler category who manufactures overseas and ships via ocean freight to the USA, Igloo products benefit from a low environmental impact of transportation to retailers, and end consumers.
REGRIND: Igloo has built on-site, unique ‘regrind’ machines that allow excess resin removed from the molding process to immediately be recycled and combined with new resin in the manufacturing process. This means up to 60% of every plastic cooler is made with recycled materials and Igloo is able to operate a nearly Zero Waste facility.
NON-PROFIT RESEARCH: Igloo has partnered with Keep America Beautiful to fund a first-of-its-kind research study which will collect post-consumer coolers and recycle them into R-Resins and R-Polymer materials that can be used to make new products rather than requiring new petroleum based resins to be collected and refined.
To learn more about Igloo’s environmental initiatives, please visit, igloocoolers.com/eco
To keep up with all things Igloo, follow and like:
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“The launch of RECOOL® was groundbreaking and it changed the way we viewed our products and our footprint as a business,” stated Dave Allen, Igloo CEO and President. “We are proud to expand our ECO category to become an entire collection and look forward to seeing customers creating new memories with our more environmentally conscious products.”
Highlights of Igloo’s new initiatives include:
RECOOL®: RECOOL® is the world’s first cooler made from biodegradable materials and is an environmentally sensitive alternative to harmful single-use EPS foam coolers. RECOOL® has sold over 250k units to date and every single one represents an EPS foam cooler that stays off the market, out of landfills and waterways.
IGLOO REPREVE®: Igloo REPREVE® soft side coolers are a thoughtful way of carrying lunch and snacks. REPREVE® by Unifi is a fabric made from recycled plastic bottles. On average 9 plastic bottles are used to make one Igloo soft side cooler. Igloo will bring over 20 bag styles in this collection to market in 2020, representing over 1,000,000 plastic bottles recycled.
Thermecool™ Insulation: In response to new California Air Resource Board (CARB) regulations, Igloo partnered with BASF to engineer a completely new, proprietary insulation formula in every one of its hard-side coolers manufactured in the USA. With a multi-million-dollar investment and over 9 months of development, Thermecool™ is now being used in every single one of Igloo’s 16 million coolers made in their Katy, TX manufacturing plant in 2020 and beyond. The new foam formula is over 50 times better for the environment than the CARB standards. In 2020 alone, Igloo’s change to Thermecool™ insulation will have a net effect similar to removing over 86,000 cars from American roads for a year!
BIOPLASTIC: Igloo announced the development of the world’s first bioplastic cooler, expected to hit the consumer market in early 2021. The iconic Igloo Playmate will be the first style made from a new plastic compound derived from sugarcane plants. This innovation with bioplastics may signal less dependence on petroleum based resins for the entire cooler industry.
LOGISTICS: Igloo products are manufactured in the USA, at their 1.8 million square foot facility in Katy, TX. Unlike nearly every competitor in the cooler category who manufactures overseas and ships via ocean freight to the USA, Igloo products benefit from a low environmental impact of transportation to retailers, and end consumers.
REGRIND: Igloo has built on-site, unique ‘regrind’ machines that allow excess resin removed from the molding process to immediately be recycled and combined with new resin in the manufacturing process. This means up to 60% of every plastic cooler is made with recycled materials and Igloo is able to operate a nearly Zero Waste facility.
NON-PROFIT RESEARCH: Igloo has partnered with Keep America Beautiful to fund a first-of-its-kind research study which will collect post-consumer coolers and recycle them into R-Resins and R-Polymer materials that can be used to make new products rather than requiring new petroleum based resins to be collected and refined.
To learn more about Igloo’s environmental initiatives, please visit, igloocoolers.com/eco
To keep up with all things Igloo, follow and like:
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 870292.
