Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Cool Wool Box (Lowering the environmental impact of fresh fish logistics)
Reporting period: 2019-08-01 to 2019-11-30
When distributing fresh fish, it is critical to use containers or boxes that maintain the cold chain to avoid spoilage and guarantee freshness. Expanded polystyrene (EPS) boxes are usually used with this purpose. These contribute to the vast amount of plastic waste generated and are a major threat to the environment. An increasingly stringent regulation on plastic waste (including the possibility of EU policies limiting EPS use) and a growing demand from consumers for sustainable practices are driving fish producers to look for plastic-free and eco-friendly packaging alternatives. However, currently available options on the market still fail either on performance or cost. The overall objective of the project is to offer fish producers an alternative to EPS based on eco-friendly insulation boxes, from widely available materials such as sheep wool and cardboard, and leverage the latest developments in bio-based coatings.
Since Cool Wool was founded in 2017, we have collaborated with R&D institutions and the Icelandic wool processing industry. We have confirmed the technical feasibility of our environmentally friendly approach by carrying out research on the insulation capacity of the Icelandic sheep wool and comparing it with commonly used EPS boxes. Results show that the insulation provided by sheep wool is superior to that of EPS. Additionally, our approach reduces the amount of ice needed and creates circular economy possibilities for other industries (wool, carboard). We have worked closely with the largest salmon plants in Iceland and with transporting companies to assess fish export conditions and set the technical and performance targets for our boxes.
The Cool Wool Box will be produced following a zero-waste circular economy production model and achieves a superior insulation capacity than state-of-the-art solutions, while having a low carbon footprint and cutting down packaging, transport and disposal costs. This project will allow our company to transition from pre-revenue to profitable business in five years (€ 16 M of accrued revenues, ROI=3.76) and will contribute to our vision for sustainable eco-friendly thermal packaging solutions.