Aug 19, 2021
Insulated Packaging
the future of the world’s food
There are two major factors involved in the business of insulated packaging. First, there is an ever-growing need for frozen and instant preparations. With people getting busier and busier and spending less and less time preparing a meal, there is a greater need for food that can be prepared in mere minutes. In order to produce and sell such kind of food, the packaging needs to withhold in a frozen state and then a heated state without harming the texture of properties of the food.
Second, cities are growing by the day, and therefore, they are getting further from food sources. What’s more, there is more desire for food that’s foreign and out of reach. People cannot be content with eating only locally grown food. Therefore, the food needs to be transferred over long distances to reach the end consumer. This is why insulated packaging that protects the food is essential.
Other than packaging food and drinks, the insulated packaging is also used in pharmaceuticals and cleaning supplies. Products that are temperature sensitive and need to be kept away from extreme heat or cold need insulated packaging to be transferred.
Types of insulated packaging
Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) Foam
EPS foam is both cost-efficient and lightweight. Unfortunately, this material is not recyclable and therefore cannot be counted as a sustainable packaging solution. On the other hand, EPS foam can protect food and other material from temperature fluctuations and microbes.
Plant fibers
This material comes from flax, cotton, and other plants and can keep the natural moisture of its insides. Coming from plants, this material causes less pollution when discarded. It is also safe to contact food directly as it does not contain any dangerous material. Finally, plant fiber packaging can keep the temperature of whatever it has inside relatively steady.
Animal waste
Wool, feathers, fleece, and skin have long been used as packages. Today, scientific experiments have only been able to prove the efficacy of these materials. Companies have been using animal waste to transport food and pharmaceutical products. These packages are entirely sustainable and biodegradable.
Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) polymers
PET can be used in its recycled form for the thermal lining of food packages. The main advantage of PET is that it provides the package with electrical insulation as well as thermal protection. This can prove extremely useful for packaging materials that are sensitive to shocks. What’s more, PET packaging is recyclable and contains no toxic material.
Companies that make insulated packaging
Cryopak
Cryopak is an American company with locations in Canada and France. This company specializes in manufacturing cold-chain packaging, refrigerants, and temperature monitoring. Cryopak’s trademark boxes Tempak is widely used for the same-day and next-day shipments of food and perishable products. These boxes are made of EPS and come in the forms of different sizes of shipping containers as well.
The refrigerants produced by Cryopak are designed as ice blankets and mats, get packs, ice packs and bricks, and phase change materials. Additionally, among Cryopak’s products can be found temperature monitoring technologies. These technologies come with data logging databases and temperature and humidity monitoring devices.
Amcor PLC (AMCR)
Amcor is a company headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. This company manufactures and sells packaging for food, fresh produce, self-care products, and pharmaceuticals. Amcor has 230 sites all over the world, with over 47,000 employees in more than 40 countries.
Amcor had over 12.7 billion dollars of income in 2021, an income that’s expected to reach 12.98 billion dollars by the following year, 2022. The stock price for Amcor is traded for $12.14 per share. This stock is forecasted to grow by 8.66% per year in the next five years.
Davis Core & Pad Company
Davis Core & Pad has been making EPS foam insulated packaging for over 40 years. This company’s products include insulated shipping containers, building insulation, stock shipping containers, polymer get packs. Davis Core & Pad received the ISO-9001–2015 standard for its quality and performance.
Davis Core & Pad was acquired by Drew Foam Group and is managed as a privately owned/merged company. This company is headquartered in Georgia, US.
DS Smith PLC (SMDS)
DS Smith is a London-based company in the packaging and paper industry. This company has been working to provide customers with state-of-the-art packaging solutions for the last 70 years. With businesses all over Europe and North America, DS Smith has employed over 30,000 people in 30 different countries.
DS Smith’s insulated packaging solutions come in the form of EPS boxes, cold gels, and insulated shipping boxes. This company’s containers are mainly used for carrying vaccines, lab samples, and pharmaceutical produces. But the applications for transportation of fresh produce and perishable food are not hidden from businesses.
DS Smith’s revenue was reported to reach 6.42 billion pounds in 2019. In the following year, 2020, this number reached 6.42 billion pounds which had grown by about 8%. The stock for DS Smith is currently traded for 439.40 pounds per share. This stock has increased by 10% in the last ten years and is predicted to grow steadily for the next five years as well.
The market size for insulated packaging
Insulated packing technologies have grown exponentially in the past few years. This growth has been mainly due to the increasing need for the transportation of food as well as medical products. The Covid pandemic also has had a significant effect on the growth of this industry. This effect comes from people’s demand for overnight delivery of food and perishable products — the transportation of vaccines over long hauls, occasionally to different countries.
These changes have caused the market size for insulated packaging to reach 11.4 billion dollars in 2020. This market is forecasted to reach up to 15.8 billion dollars by 2025. What’s clear is that the market is bound to grow even more prominent in the next few years.
