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Sustainable Packaging Option For Temperature-Sensitive Shipments

Green Cell Foam expands into temperature-sensitive market, offering sustainability, moisture barrier and shock and vibration resistance.

Green Cell Plus panels are wrapped in recyclable PE film for temperature-sensitive shipments.
Green Cell Plus panels are wrapped in recyclable PE film for temperature-sensitive shipments.

Compostable, biodegradable, and water-soluble, Green Cell Foam is a non-GMO cornstarch material grown in the U.S. that can be shaped and fabricated into shipping coolers, as well as protective and display packaging for use in numerous industries, such as pharmaceutical, food and nutritional supplements, including temperature-sensitive products.

From KTM Industries, Green Cell Foam has been manufactured and sold for 15 years now, though it has undergone changes since then. The company’s website says, “Our goal is to replace polystyrene (EPS), polyurethane (PU) and polyethylene (PE) in single-use packaging for thermal insulating or shock-absorbing applications.”

Green Cell Plus is a more recent addition to the company’s product mix. It takes three-panel sections of Green Cell Foam and “envelopes” them in a recyclable PE film. Its Green Cell Foam insulated shipping coolers are engineered to offer thermal protection equal to polystyrene on an inch-for-inch basis, provide a barrier against moisture and humidity, and deliver shock, vibration, breaking and cracking resistance during shipping.

Yet the company notes, “More protection doesn’t mean less green.” Green Cell Foam’s manufacturing process is said to require 70% less energy and 80% less greenhouse gases than do petroleum-based films. As for disposal, KTM says it is “backyard compostable, biodegradable and water-soluble (ASTM D6400 an BPI-certified).” In fact, a video on the company’s website demonstrates that small pieces of Green Cell Foam can be placed in a sink and safely “melted” down the drain with water.

Material advances

Since KTM launched in 1997, it has moved into a 50,000 sq-ft facility that includes a new-generation extruder and full fabrication operation. Instead of simply manufacturing and selling raw Green Cell Foam as it did years ago, KTM President and CEO Tim Colonnese says the company now provides “a team of on-staff packaging engineers that work directly with prospective customers to understand their requirements and then design and deliver the Green Cell material into their operations with the least amount of change and disruption.”

KTM generates about half of its revenue from shipping coolers, with protective packaging and display packaging evenly accounting for the remaining 50%. By industry segment, its shipping coolers sales are divided almost evenly among pharmaceuticals, foods and nutritional supplements.

LAST CHANCE TO SAVE! New Tech for Life Sciences at PACK EXPO Southeast
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LAST CHANCE TO SAVE! New Tech for Life Sciences at PACK EXPO Southeast