Shopping for organic groceries isn’t just about choosing how food is grown, but also how it’s packaged and transported to your doorstep. With this in mind, NaturaSì decided to revamp its temperature-controlled e-commerce shipping system, relying on the PURE® system developed by Dryce, a company it has been working with for 20 years. And it was the first company in Italy to achieve the goal of eliminating expanded polystyrene (EPS), which is traditionally used to insulate packages.
The Pure System: Between Paper and Air
At the heart of this innovation is PURE-Therm, a material made from recycled paper and compostable PLA, structured into air cells. It is precisely the air trapped inside these cells that provides thermal insulation comparable to that of EPS, without leaving behind plastic waste that is difficult to dispose of.
The material is produced directly at the shipping hubs from compact rolls and used as the inner lining for the cardboard boxes already used by NaturaSì. Temperature control is handled by PURE-Cool, a paper-based cold pack containing a Phase Change Material that is safe for people and the environment and can be disposed of directly in the paper recycling bin. The product underwent an ecotoxicological assessment in accordance with ISO 18763:2020, with tests conducted on three plant species over 72 hours, and was found not to be classified as a hazardous substance under the CLP Regulation.
Less space required, fewer trips, fewer emissions
The numbers illustrate the impact of this change. Over its entire life cycle, the new system reduces CO₂ emissions by 52.98%; during the raw material procurement phase, the reduction is 36.68%, while at the end of life, thanks to full recyclability within the paper supply chain, the reduction reaches 97.38%. Another significant advantage relates to space: a single roll of PURE-Therm yields approximately 60 10-liter insulated containers, which, if made of EPS, would instead occupy one cubic meter of volume. Less space required in warehouses and on transport vehicles translates to a reduction of approximately 48% in emissions associated with the transport of incoming packaging materials.
Marco Malasomma, product manager at Dryce, explains that the main challenge was maintaining the same performance without compromise: an organic product must arrive intact, treated with the same respect with which it was grown. The team didn’t simply replace one material with another; instead, they reimagined the entire solution, harnessing the insulating properties of air and reformulating the cold packs with environmentally safe substances, thereby also simplifying household waste management.
