Mondi’s FunctionalBarrier Paper enables safe shipping of frozen and chilled foods

Mondi, a global leader in sustainable packaging and paper, has helped easy2cool, a specialist in sustainable, passive cooling solutions, create new e-commerce paper packaging for fresh and frozen food.

easy2cool has invented a paperfloc Eco-Liner bag that contains shredded recycled paper to insulate cold products, keeping contents frozen or chilled for up to 48 hours. Prior to working with Mondi, the outer layer around the insulation material consisted of mono-PE. By collaborating closely with Mondi, easy2cool has been able to replace the mono-PE layer with Mondi’s recyclable FunctionalBarrier Paper.

This development means that easy2cool’s customers can opt to deliver their goods in responsibly sourced packaging created from renewable resources, in the form of insulated pouches or liners within a corrugated box. Both options have been certified recyclable by cyclos-HTP and are easy to dispose of in existing paper recycling streams throughout Europe.

Mondi’s FunctionalBarrier Paper ensures that no condensation water – naturally occurring during the insulation process – reaches the insulation material where it could compromise its integrity. It also seals the packaging, offering a strong, shock absorbent outer layer to keep the contents safe.

Marco Knobloch, founder and general manager of easy2cool, says: “We have trialled a number of different barrier papers, but chilled and frozen products have quite specific requirements and Mondi’s FunctionalBarrier Paper meets all our requirements. Customers using the corrugated box can save up to 70% of the costs associated with the previous option of a polystyrene box, thanks to the reduced storage space used by the new foldable solutions. Another solution in our portfolio is combining a Mondi corrugated box with paperfloc insulation and our EasyAkkus product, to make a disposable cooler box that delivers reliable cooling for four days. Perfect for festivals.”

Shipping fresh and frozen food products effectively and sustainably has always been a challenge. By using our FunctionalBarrier Paper, easy2cool can work towards its targets of using resources efficiently to deliver the protection of temperature-sensitive goods anytime, anywhere. While the original application was developed for fresh and frozen food, the solution can also be used for pet food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals,” adds Thomas Lunz, industry group manager functional paper, Mondi.