The box does the job the reefer used to do

Direct-to-consumer flower subscriptions, webshop-ordered perennials, young plants crossing borders in a standard parcel network: a growing share of floriculture now travels without any active cooling. Dutch packaging manufacturer Cooled Solutions, a supplier to the flower and plant sector since the 1970s, explains what separates a good arrival from a complaint.

Cut flowers and young plants are among the most temperature-sensitive products moving© Cooled Solutions through parcel networks. Heat accelerates ripening and wilting; a night in an unheated van in winter can be just as destructive. And unlike food, a flower cannot be tasted before dispatch — the customer’s first impression at the doorstep is the whole product.

“The parcel network is a black box. You don’t control the temperature for 24 to 48 hours, so the packaging has to,” says Cor van Os, commercial manager at Cooled Solutions, which has been manufacturing insulating packaging in the Netherlands since 1972. “An insulated EPS box slows the temperature change dramatically, in both directions. In summer it keeps the heat out, in winter it protects against frost damage during that one cold night in a distribution hub.”

What growers and webshops get wrong
The most common mistake, according to Van Os, is treating insulation as a summer-only measure. “Frost claims in January cost our floriculture customers more than heat claims in July. The same box solves both — but only if it’s actually used year-round.”

Sizing matters just as much. Air inside the box warms or cools quickly, so a half-empty box performs measurably worse than a well-filled one. For mixed assortments, a small range of standard sizes beats one universal box. And for shipments with gel packs, boxes with drainage holes prevent condensation from pooling around stems and root balls.

Recyclable, light, and PPWR-ready
EPS — expanded polystyrene, known in the German trade as Styroporboxen — remains the standard for insulated parcel shipping for practical reasons: it insulates strongly at minimal weight, cushions fragile stems and pots, and as a mono-material it is fully recyclable. Under the EU’s new packaging regulation (PPWR), which makes recyclability mandatory by 2030, that puts it ahead of many composite alternatives.

Cooled Solutions produces its EPS boxes (Styroporboxen) entirely in-house in the Netherlands, with all standard sizes in stock in thin- and thick-walled versions, with or without drainage holes. Orders placed on working days before 2 PM ship the same day, with delivery across Germany, Austria and the Benelux typically within two working days.

For more information:
Cor van Os
Cooled Solutions
Tel: +31 (0) 255 234 200
[email protected]
https://cooledsolutions.nl/