EPS News interview Cool Logistics was set up in December 2000, it provides temperature controlled shipping solutions for pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, dangerous goods, clinical trials and diagnostics. EPS News spoke to Richard Perkes, Commercial Director. |
Global EPS Recycling Agreement 'Plastics: The Industry of Tomorrow' EPS NEWS INTERVIEW - Richard Perkes, Cool Logistics
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Why do you use expanded polystyrene (EPS) for your temperature controlled packaging? It offers great protection, it's clean and it's lightweight, but most important it gives effective insulation to products that need to be kept at stable temperatures. Polyurethane has a slightly better insulation factor than EPS, but it is not as easy to recycle at the moment. Also it does not provide consistent density, often being more dense at the bottom, this effects the quality of the insulation. EPS gives a consistent density throughout which is very important in our business. Also it is 100 per cent recyclable and there is a very active recycling programme. Is recycling important to pharmaceutical companies? Yes, it is, especially because re-use is often not appropriate in this sector. Pallets can be re-used but not boxes. There is a story about a company getting a box sent back to its facility with traces of blood in it. In that kind of situation the boxes need to be incinerated — that makes EPS a good choice as it can be safely incinerated. When the boxes are clean it makes more sense to recycle them than return them for re-use. How does EPS help Cool Logistics create successful temperature controlled packaging? The key is the combination of the EPS box, which provides primary insulation and then having something inside the box that will absorb the heat without changing temperature. The EPS provides the first line of defence and then any heat or cold that does get through the box wall is halted by the internal elements. These can guard against a product freezing in cold ambient conditions or against it overheating in warm ambient conditions. We have a range of EPS shippers that are designed to meet our clients' requirements; our mission is always to design a shipping solution that will give the optimum service to our client. Do you provide a testing facility for your clients? Yes, we have five testing chambers that can be programmed to create any extremes of temperature over any given period. For example we could recreate a five-day trip over a desert changing the temperature in the chamber to the extremes of day and night conditions. Our sensitive temperature data loggers will give exact data about the temperature inside the EPS shipper so we can tell if we need to re-design any element of the shipper to provide more protection for the product being transported. We always test a product for longer than requested; so that if a journey takes longer than anticipated, the client will know whether the product has been kept within the required temperature boundaries and is still reliable. Do you pack the products at Cool Logistics? No, we don't handle any pharmaceutical products; there are strict regulations about their handling. However to ensure the packaging is correct we often visit warehouses to train the staff on how to put the shipper together. This can be very useful as we can explain exactly why a package is put together in a particular way. We also provide diagrams so staff have a picture of how each shipper should be packed. |
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Four key reasons Cool Logistics use EPS 1 It offers low thermal conductivity 0.035 W/mC 2 Excellent protective cushioning 3 Clients' company logos can be embossed on the box 4 It is 100% recyclable |
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Foreground: Quentin Shrimpton
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