Leading the way in insulated paperboard packaging with northbox®.
Our award-winning insulated boxes keep your products at the perfect temperature in transit, and are recyclable and made from recycled paperboard.
Contact us to learn more or receive a quote.
Our insulated distribution solutions
northbox®: raising the bar for direct to consumer
Specially designed for parcel shipping temperature-sensitive products, our recyclable insulated box is easy to assemble, ship and recycle.
northbox®ocean: a rigorously leakproof sustainable alternative
Made with an innovative leakproof insulator to ensure fish and seafood stay fresh in transit, all in an eco-friendly alternative to non-recyclable packaging.
Cascades is the partner of choice in eco-friendly packaging solutions
Easily recyclable solutions
For consumers
northbox is easy to recycle in just one step: the entire box, including the insulator, can be put in a recycling bin, with no need to remove the reflective film. Since over 96% of Americans can access a residential recycling collection or drop-off program, we help keep the circular economy alive.
Source : Fibre Box Association
For mills
Our insulated packaging is completely safe for recycling equipment, and paperboard created from northbox fibres is of the same quality as that made entirely from OCC from other sources. The quality of this raw material is mill-approved.
Walking the talk
Cascades is committed to reusing or preserving the value of our materials for our insulated solutions. Always integrate a maximum of recycled materials, offer a recyclable solution and control freshness to reduce food waste are in the heart of our product developments.
All measure are taken to ensure our converting operations are sustainable, using the services of EcoVadis to regularly evaluate our suppliers. We are proud to be one of the World’s 100 Most Sustainable Companies, as recognized by Corporate Knights.
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northbox® supports your operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness objectives
Source of value
Our insulators are designed to be very rigid, which improves the stacking strength of the box they are placed in. Using our insulators means you can opt for more cost-effective boxes with a lower edge crush test (ECT).
Cascades offers standard box models at competitive prices and customized solutions to meet all needs and budgets. We can guide you in choosing the most appropriate box for your needs.
Bringing you packaging excellence
Our tried-and-true testing
hours
For more than 10 years, our experts have been conducting thousands of thermal tests to ensure the performance and reliability of our northbox insulated solution.
Daily, our dedicated team works to improve our product performance, reduce our environmental footprint and confirm it meets market requirements. We also examine each demand individually to understand your specific needs and cold chain. Your satisfaction is our biggest priority.
Continuous improvement
- Conduct daily thermal tests, ISTA 7E among others
- Reduce dimensional weight
- Improve eco-design through material optimization
- Meet new delivery requirements: Amazon APASS and IATA tests for air transportation
- Optimize box compression strength
Customized service
- Laboratory reports for our customers
- Ice optimization
- Establish a personalized delivery profiles
- Rapid prototyping (compartments, separators, custom design)
- Comparative analysis of materials
- Assembly line analysis for product optimization
Our state-of-the-art tools
We have all the necessary thermal testing equipment in-house to ensure efficient northbox performance. We’ve developed our own calculator to simulate the effects of ice quantity, box size and outside temperature on delivery timeframes. Thanks to humidity control, our thermal chamber can even replicate tropical conditions to provide simulated delivery circumstances.
Our state-of-the-art tools
Wee have all the necessary thermal testing equipment in-house to ensure efficient northbox performance. We’ve developed our own calculator to simulate the effects of ice quantity, box size and outside temperature on delivery timeframes. Thanks to humidity control, our thermal chamber can even replicate tropical conditions to provide simulated delivery circumstances.
Our milestones at a glance
2004
Early research into the thermal properties of the honeycomb paperboard structure
2007
First paper-based insulated solution: launch of northbox® ocean (previously ThermaFresh®)
2013
Winner of the Phénix environmental award in the “company – eco-design for containers, packaging or printed matter” category
2016
Launch of northbox®
2017
Winner of the Food Processing Council of Quebec’s Food Innovation Award in the “packaging” category
2019
Winner of the Ruby Award for innovation of the year in the confectionery industry from the National Confectioners Association (NCA)
northbox: Our milestones at a glance
2004
Early research into the thermal properties of the honeycomb paperboard structure
2007
First paper-based insulated solution: launch of northbox® ocean (previously ThermaFresh®)
2013
Winner of the Phénix environmental award in the “company – eco-design for containers, packaging or printed matter” category
2016
Launch of northbox®
2017
Winner of the Food Processing Council of Quebec’s Food Innovation Award in the “packaging” category
2019
Winner of the Ruby Award for innovation of the year in the confectionery industry from the National Confectioners Association (NCA)
Our ever-expanding services
Ou Research and Development Centre was founded in 1985 to bring our packaging vision to life, i.e. to offer you the best possible solutions for your products, your business and the planet. Today we are North America’s largest private facility in the pulp and paper industry, and we’re still passionate about what we do. On any given day, our expert microbiologists, physicists and chemists, as well as civil, mechanical, electrical and process engineers, are working tirelessly towards developing, testing and refining the packaging innovations of tomorrow.
Contact us
Contact us to learn more or receive a quote.