It's Paper. It's Cool.

100% readily recyclable cooler for cold-chain shipping

Thermo Fisher Scientific is committed to reducing the carbon footprint of our products through redesigning and minimizing packaging. We know cold shipping represents one of our largest environmental impacts. Traditional expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam coolers are good at protecting products but are difficult to recycle, creating disposal issues for our customers.

 

Our 100% paper cooler is an environmentally preferable alternative to EPS coolers; it meets the thermal requirements necessary to uphold our stringent product quality standards. Though we still rely on EPS coolers to ship a portion of our cold-chain shipments, our 100% paper cooler is an important step forward in our sustainability journey.

 

Have you received an order delivered in our paper cooler? Packaging must protect the product inside—but that doesn’t require sustainability sacrifices. We are developing solutions to reduce packaging, replace non-recyclable materials and ship products at ambient temperatures whenever feasible.

 

Have you received an order delivered in our paper cooler?

How to recycle your paper cooler

The paper cooler is made from 100% paper—from the corrugate box to the paper insulation— and should be recycled alongside other paper and corrugate materials. Corrugated packaging is widely recycled, with a recovery rate of 93% in the U.S. and 72% in Europe.

 

Every 10,000 paper coolers shipped keeps more than 6,500 cubic feet of EPS from landfills.

Thermo Fisher Scientific does not provide a mail-back program for coolers. Life-cycle analyses often show that transporting a cooler back can release more carbon than it takes to generate a new cooler. For this reason, we encourage our customers to recycle our paper coolers and explore using local EPS recyclers for foam coolers.

Protecting your products

Our paper cooler passes International Safe Transit Association (ISTA) package testing—the industry standard for packaging. The cooler’s patented design provides the thermal and protective performance to keep your products safe.

View cooler testing and performance information:

 

Partner with us on this green innovation

Our paper cooler packaging approach is protected by US patent numbers 8,453,477; 9,139,319; 11,511,927; European patent EP3873819; and related patents, as well as pending patent applications as we continue to innovate more sustainable solutions.

 

We’re always seeking partners who share our passion for making the world healthier, cleaner and safer. For licensing and commercial use information, please contact outlicensing@thermofisher.com.

Our criteria for designing to reduce environmental impact

Less hazardous products and waste

Minimizing hazardous materials and hazardous waste in the lab is a win for both safety and the environment.

Less waste and use of fewer resources

When reducing waste in your lab, every little bit helps. Whether it’s reducing, eliminating or reusing. 
 

More energy efficient

More energy efficient products help power your work and support lab sustainability without compromising performance.

Responsibly packaged and shipped

Developing solutions to reduce packaging, replace non-recyclable materials and ship products at ambient temperatures whenever feasible.

Extending life of products and materials

Circularity and closed-loop design are worthy challenges. Innovating ways to extend the useful life of products and materials.