Coolers are indispensable if you want to enjoy the outdoors. They keep your food fresh, they keep your drinks cold, and they let you keep ice for days, giving you a valuable creature comfort that’s impossible to get in the wild. The Igloo ECOCOOL does all of those things while coming with green credentials, making it a more attractive choice for folks who do their shopping with sustainability in mind.
The outfit’s newest cooler collection, it’s billed as “the world’s first hardside coolers made with recycled plastic.” That’s right, these things are clad in post-consumer plastic that would otherwise end up stacked in our landfills and clogging our waterways, so it should appeal to consumers interested in products that help cut down on our waste.
The Igloo ECOCOOL is made from a recycled resin that’s produced using discarded yogurt cups, milk jugs, and other food-grade waste plastic. That resin is used for the body, the liner, and the lid of the cooler, so the entire ice box itself is cut in the recycled material. According to the outfit, they’re using 48 tons’ worth of resin for the entire first run of the collection, which is supposedly enough plastic to fill up to 10 football fields. Yes, that sounds like a lot, so there’s real incentive for folks interested in more sustainable consumption to really support them.
Four products will be available as part of the collection during launch, namely the 7-quart Little Playmate, the 30-quart tall Latitude, the 52-quart wide Latitude, and the 60-quart Latitude Roller. The Little Playmate holds nine cans inside its insulated chamber, while the 30-quart model up to 43 12-ounce canned beverages. The two bigger models, on the other hand, can accommodate 76 and 98 cans, respectively, making them ideal for big parties and gatherings. All four feature the same recycled construction, along with the outfit’s Cool Riser technology, which reinforces the underside of the cooler to keep whatever surface it’s placed on from affecting the temperature inside, maximizing the ice retention you can get from the ice box.
The Igloo ECOCOOL isn’t as effective as traditional rotomolded coolers when it comes to ice retention, by the way. While there are no listed rating for the three smaller models, the 60-quart Latitude Roller vows to be able to keep ice for a respectable five days. Yes, that doesn’t sound so bad, but it’s a far cry from the extended ice retention you can get from the most popular cooler models out there. That means, while this is a great cooler for tailgates, picnics, and parties, it might not be what you want to bring along when you’re spending a couple weeks adventuring out in the backcountry.
Of the four models, the Latitude Roller is the most feature-packed of the lot. As you can tell from the name, it’s meant to be dragged like a rolling suitcase, with a telescoping handle and oversized wheels, so you can fill it to the brim and take it to camp without needing to transform into the Incredible Hulk. It also gets cup holders, so you can use it as a makeshift table, as well as a drain plug, so you can quickly empty it before packing and heading back home.
The Igloo ECOCOOL collection will be available April 22nd. Price starts at $24.99 for the Little Playmate and tops out at $64.99 for the Latitude Roller.