--- title: Cruz Cool: The 200 Best Inventions of 2023 description: Find out why Cruz Cool is one of the best inventions of 2023 canonical: https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2023/6324731/cruz-cool/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-10-24T11:00:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T05:11:19.956Z og:title: Cruz Cool: The 200 Best Inventions of 2023 og:description: Find out why Cruz Cool made this year's list og:url: https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2023/6324731/cruz-cool/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb36903535c20a275/698a416f16d884a8b9c3c5c5/best-inventions-2023-cruz-cool.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Cruz Cool: The 200 Best Inventions of 2023 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Cruz Cool: The 200 Best Inventions of 2023 twitter:description: Find out why Cruz Cool made this year's list twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb36903535c20a275/698a416f16d884a8b9c3c5c5/best-inventions-2023-cruz-cool.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Oct 24, 2023 # Sustaining the Cold Chain Cruz Cool by [Jeff Wilser](https://time.com/author/jeff-wilser/) ## Jeff Wilser  Elizabeth Renstrom for TIME Styrofoam takes over 500 years to decompose—and yet we still use it for insulation. The Cruz Cool cooler, which can insulate frozen goods for 48 hours, is made out of chitin, a polymer that’s found in fungi, insects, and shrimp. But the real difference is how it’s produced. Typically, eco-friendly alternatives to styrofoam come in odd shapes and sizes that flummox supply chains. Parent company Cruz Foam compounds the chitin with other ingredients into large flat pellets that feed into a partner’s current processing plant. That’s how Cruz Foam is already partnering with Atlantic Packaging, an industry leader. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2023/6324731/cruz-cool/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2023/6324731/cruz-cool/"},"headline":"Sustaining the Cold Chain","datePublished":"2023-10-24T11:00:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T05:11:19.956Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2023/6324731/cruz-cool/","keywords":["list","franchise","ecommerce","Magazine","best inventions","Best Inventions 2023"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb36903535c20a275/698a416f16d884a8b9c3c5c5/best-inventions-2023-cruz-cool.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jeff Wilser","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jeff-wilser/"}],"creator":"Jeff Wilser","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb36903535c20a275/698a416f16d884a8b9c3c5c5/best-inventions-2023-cruz-cool.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2023/6324731/cruz-cool/","name":"Sustaining the Cold Chain"}}]}] ```