Hydropac launches freeze-indicating ice pack to cut cold chain EPR costs

Hydropac, a UK-based cold chain packaging manufacturer, has launched an ice pack featuring a built-in freeze indicator that changes appearance once the pack has reached a specific freezing temperature. 

HydroPure is developed for food manufacturers, meal kit providers, online retailers, and pet food brands, says the manufacturer. 

The solution aims to optimize cold-chain performance, as well as offering “environmental, functional, and commercial packaging advantages,” which Hydropac outlines as especially important following the introduction of the UK’s packaging EPR (pEPR). 

“Cold chain packaging has traditionally been judged on one thing: whether it keeps products cold. That will always be essential, but businesses are now asking additional questions: How quickly does it freeze? How long does it protect products? Is it simple to dispose of? What does it mean for future packaging costs?” says Colin Rowland, managing director at Hydropac.

“HydroPure has been developed to help answer all of those questions as well as improve consistency across packaging operations thanks to its unique visual freeze indicator.”

The HydroPure ice packs are black by design, but turn white once the pack freezes. This gives warehouse teams “immediate confirmation” that the pack is frozen and ready for use, says Hydropac. 

Reducing EPR fees

The solution eliminates conventional temperature signaling gel from ice packs, which can be difficult to recycle. Hydropac also elaborates that, as purified water isn’t classified as chargeable packaging material like gel, the HydroPure solution can offer lower pEPR fees.

Rowland continues: “It delivers exceptional cooling performance without the environmental impacts of gel-based packs, not to mention the potential it offers for substantially lower EPR costs.”

For a water-filled ice pack, only the plastic film is reported as packaging with the water content excluded, explains Hydropac. For a gel-filled pack, the plastic film is reported as plastic, and the gel content is reported separately within the “other” material category.

In Hydropac’s current analysis of pEPR fee structures, a standard 500 g water ice pack like HydroPure potentially has a disposal fee of around 0.5 p (US$0.007) per unit. Comparatively, pEPR fees are approximately 14.3 p (US$0.19) for an equivalent gel pack, according to the cold chain packager, as the plastic film and gel are classified as chargeable packaging material.

“Guidance surrounding some aspects of pEPR continues to evolve, and Hydropac is continuing to press the Environment Agency and Defra for explicit product-specific guidance covering coolants and ice packs,” concludes Hydropac.