On Tuesday, the San Diego City Council voted to ban the use of Styrofoam. In doing so, it joined major metropolitan areas like New York, Seattle, Minneapolis and Washington, DC in eliminating the use of polystyrene foam within city limits.
Packaging startup TemperPack is looking to cash in on this styro-backlash, offering a rival recyclable packaging product. Today the company announced it had closed a $22.5 million Series B, led by billionaire Steve Case ‘s Revolution Growth, bringing its total funding to $40 million.
Styrofoam, a trademarked brand of insulation by the Dow Chemical Company, is the term commonly used to refer to the material used in disposable coffee cups, take-out containers, packing peanuts and insulated packaging. Though it cannot be recycled and requires up to 500 years to decompose, it has long been the industry standard for thermal packaging.
They have focused on the pharmaceutical and food delivery industries, two areas that require product to move at specific temperatures, with clients like HelloFresh and Diplomat Pharmacy (pharma cold-chain logistics alone are expected to be worth $16.6 billion by 2021).
