News

New plastic-free 100% recyclable insulated shipper begins food deliveries

Long Crendon, Buckinghamshire, UK, 4 May 2020 – Softbox, an award-winning temperature control packaging innovator, has created a new plastic-free 100% kerbside-recyclable cardboard insulated shipper for the delivery of chilled food.

The recently piloted insulated shipper, using Softbox’s Thermaflute™ insulating technology, is launched as the first insulator of its kind in the UK recipe kit industry. This single-use low cost parcel shipper is made from 100% recycled corrugated cardboard and zero plastic. The cardboard is carefully constructed to create effective insulation layers that offer efficiencies similar to those of traditional expanded polystyrene shippers, whilst being completely sustainable.

The insulated shipper is designed for the transportation of temperature-sensitive products such as chilled food. It comes as a flat-packed design to help save space when storing and it is easy to assemble and recycle once used.

Softbox partnered with Gousto, a leading recipe kit company, to create the first plastic-free recipe box insulator, known as the Eco Chill Box. This new innovation replaces Gousto’s previous insulator to remove 74.5 tonnes of plastic from their food delivery boxes annually, helping them to reduce plastic by 50%. Gousto sends almost 4 million meals per month in the UK.

“We’re very excited to bring our new kerbside-recyclable Thermaflute™ insulating technology to the food industry,” said Kevin Valentine, CEO of Softbox Systems. “There is huge demand in the food industry for the reduction of plastic packaging. Thermaflute™ insulating technology helps remove plastics from the delivery process and helps ensure that the food is delivered chilled and fresh. Once delivered, the waste packaging can be disposed of in household recycling bins ready for collection by the local authority.

“We’re very grateful for the opportunity to work with Gousto as one of their key suppliers in the development of their Eco Chill Box and to have helped provide a sustainable way for their customers to enjoy their food.”

Timo Boldt CEO and Founder of Gousto said: “Feedback from customers on our Eco Chill Box has been overwhelmingly positive as they can enjoy more of our fresh ingredients delivered in completely plastic free and 100% recyclable packaging. We’re delighted to be able to provide a more sustainable packaging upgrade for our customers, helping us to become the UK’s most-loved way to eat dinner. We remain focused on offering a more sustainable meal and have pledged that all of our branded packaging will be reusable, recyclable or compostable by the end of 2022.”

Softbox plans to officially launch its first temperature control kerbside-recyclable packaging system, powered by Thermaflute™, later this Summer; making it available to more customers operating in the chilled food delivery sector.