Hydropac, a leader in cold chain packaging solutions, is set to introduce HydroPure™, an innovative water ice pack featuring a built-in freeze indicator that visually signals when the pack has achieved its optimal freezing temperature.
Specifically created for food manufacturers, meal kit providers, online retailers, and pet food companies, HydroPure™ is designed to enhance cold-chain efficiency while offering practical, environmental, and economic packaging benefits.
This launch arrives at a pivotal moment for brands reevaluating their packaging strategies in light of the UK’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation. The new regulations dictate how packaging materials are evaluated and taxed, making HydroPure™ a viable option for lowering disposal costs as outlined by the EPR fee structure.
An Innovative Visual Cue for Better Performance
Distinctively black, HydroPure™ packs are engineered for heat absorption, making the freeze indicator’s transformation strikingly clear. As the ice pack freezes, its black exterior appears to crack, transitioning to a bright white from the center outward. This immediate visual change provides warehouse teams with quick confirmation that the pack is fully frozen and ready to use, thus enhancing operational consistency, particularly during high-volume fulfillment.
Adding Value Across the Board
HydroPure™ delivers essential cold-chain performance without the disposal costs typically associated with gel packs.
- Environmental Benefits: By removing gel from the pack, the product helps avoid the use of refrigerants that are challenging to recycle and often end up in landfills. This allows brands to lessen their environmental impact while maintaining effective cooling performance.
- Commercial Advantages: Since purified water is not categorized as chargeable packaging in the same manner as gel, HydroPure™ holds the promise of significantly reduced EPR liabilities. This is becoming increasingly important for food, meal kit, and pet food brands, as EPR fees scale with packaging volume.
- Functional Efficiency: The integrated visual freeze indicator eliminates uncertainty in warehouse processes, providing fulfillment teams with immediate and unmistakable confirmation that a pack is ready for use.
Navigating New Packaging Regulations
As companies evaluate the ramifications of the EPR, the composition of packaging is emerging as a critical business factor. Hydropac has secured documentation from Valpak, a prominent packaging compliance scheme in the UK, confirming that water and gel-filled ice packs are categorized differently under existing EPR guidelines.
For a water-filled ice pack, only the plastic film is reported as packaging material, excluding the water itself. In contrast, for a gel pack, both the plastic film and gel content are reported separately, contributing to the total weight for EPR waste disposal fees.
Practical Implications of EPR Fee Structure
According to Hydropac’s analysis, a standard 500g HydroPure™ ice pack could incur disposal fees of approximately half a penny per unit, vastly lower than the roughly 14.3p charged for an equivalent gel pack. This disparity could lead to additional disposal costs of around 13.75p per gel pack, accumulating to approximately £13,750 for businesses managing 50 tonnes of packaging each year, and exceeding £137,000 for those dealing with 500 tonnes.
As the specifics of EPR guidelines continue to evolve, Hydropac is proactively seeking clear, product-specific guidance from the Environment Agency and Defra regarding coolants and ice packs. The written advice from Valpak strengthens the compliance basis for Hydropac’s findings.
Colin Rowland, Managing Director at Hydropac, highlighted the changing landscape of cold chain packaging:
“Traditionally, cold chain packaging has been evaluated solely on its ability to keep products cool, which remains vital. However, today’s businesses are probing deeper into other considerations. How quickly does it freeze? How long does it maintain product integrity? Is disposal straightforward? What are the future implications for packaging costs? HydroPure™ has been engineered to address these questions while enhancing operational consistency through its unique visual freeze indicator.”
“It provides outstanding cooling performance while mitigating the environmental impacts associated with gel-based packs, alongside the potential for significantly reduced EPR costs.”
For more information about HydroPure™ ahead of its launch, please visit: HydroPure™.