Igloo Recool Review | GearJunkie

I wasn’t convinced when the Igloo Recool first showed up. At a glance, the recycled tree pulp walls looked flimsier than my daughter’s cardboard fort upstairs. But then, I gave it a shot — and quickly changed my tune.

I’ve driven it up Richmond Ridge above Aspen in our Jeep Wrangler, hauled it around for day hikes, and stashed it under the car on a 3-hour mountain bike ride in 80-degree heat. It swallowed 11 cans with ease (plus a few protein drinks), held ice long enough to keep drinks cool in serious desert heat, and survived my unique variety of testing in the form of a dumbbell. The sorcery is simple: no more styrofoam coolers for your next day trip.

What’s charming (and frankly rare) in the cooler world is this: Recool isn’t just a novelty. Yes, Igloo advertises this cooler as a better-for-the-environment solution. But you know what? It works, to a certain extent anyway.

You won’t rely on it for a weeklong expedition, but it earns a place in your gear lineup by being light, eco-friendly, and surprisingly capable when you need something in a pinch.

In short: The Igloo Recool 16-quart Cooler ($10) performs far better than you’d expect for a fully recyclable, reusable cooler. It keeps drinks cool for day-long adventures and boasts enough capacity that you won’t show up empty-handed to your next party. Sure, it has some flaws. But I’ll support any $10 paper cooler that can withstand a dumbbell.

See how the Igloo Recool Cooler stacks up against the competition in our buyer’s guide for the Best Coolers of 2025.

Igloo Recool Cooler Review

The Igloo Recool launched in 2019 as the first mass-market, biodegradable cooler designed to replace the cheap white styrofoam boxes you find stacked in gas stations and grocery stores. Those foam coolers have long been the worst of both worlds: squeaky, crunchy, and prone to crumbling apart mid-trip. And, they linger in landfills for centuries.

Igloo’s answer was a molded paper-pulp design, made from recycled paper and a plant-based binder. Just like the gross styrofoam, the Recool holds ice and keeps drinks cold. But, it composts back into the earth when its job is done. In other words, it solves the very specific problem of “disposable” coolers … that never really go away.

Ice Retention and Cooling

I’ll be honest: I didn’t expect the Recool to actually work, but it impressed me with how reliably it kept drinks cool — within its limits.

On a recent desert mountain biking weekend in Fruita, Colo., my husband and I stashed a few protein drinks and bubbly waters inside the cooler before heading out to ride a few laps at 18 Road. It was the kind of hot you can only find in the desert in late September: 86 degrees, zero clouds, and merely a hint of a breeze. We put the cooler beneath our car so it would stay shaded and hoped for a deliciously cold beverage.

When we rolled back 2.5 hours later, I found cool protein drinks waiting for us. No one wants tepid chocolate protein, so this was a bona fide win. The following week, we used the Recool again for a full day of jeeping in our Wrangler high up in the alpine above Aspen.

I packed a few drinks, cheese and salami, and some fruit for my family for the day. Once again, the Recool delivered, and we all noshed on a tasty picnic high above treeline. Does it work as well as a YETI or other pricier option? No, but that’s not an apples-to-apples comparison.

The cooler’s ability to hold a chill comes from its dense paper-pulp walls, which trap air and slow the transfer of heat. Unlike styrofoam, it doesn’t crumble when damp; instead, the material firms up and holds together, even as it absorbs a bit of moisture.

Pair that with a lid that keeps cold air from escaping, and the Recool does a solid job of keeping ice intact for at least 4-5 hours. If you stash it in the shade like we did, you’ll stretch that performance even further.

Igloo claims the ice should last for about 12 hours, but I think that’s a bit short. In my testing, I was able to easily keep ice in there for 5 hours. At 7 hours, there was still plenty of ice, but also some water. I’m not sure about other samples, but the lid on mine doesn’t fit tightly. My guess is that the gaps around the lid are partially responsible for letting warm air in and increasing the melting rate.

Durability That Withstands Dumbbells

Once in a while, you get an idea that just won’t quit. That’s what happened with me in our garage gym. Sure, I could load up the Igloo Recool to review with a dozen cans of bubbly water. But where is the fun in that?

So, I beelined it for our dumbbell rack and started experimenting. At first, I put a smaller 10-pound dumbbell in the cooler to get a gauge on what happened to the integrity of the cooler while I carried it around our neighborhood. Nothing.

So, I tried a 12.5-pound dumbbell and did the same thing. Still nothing. Fifteen pounds. Twenty pounds. At this point, I was tired of walking in the world’s most awkward farmer’s carry. So, I jumped the weight up in 10-pound increments.

Finally, after walking over to our neighbor’s house and back with a 50-pound dumbbell loaded inside, I called an end to the test. After carrying 177 pounds of combined dumbbell weight, the Igloo Recool looked the exact same.

I don’t see any dents in the paper walls or cracks in the corners. The paper isn’t torn anywhere, and the bottom hasn’t fallen out like I honestly expected. Save for a few black smudges on the interior from the rubber jostling around, the cooler looks as good as new.

That said, the Recool is still made of paper. This isn’t a rotomolded plastic or burly aluminum cooler; it’s paper. While it passed the dumbbell test with flying colors, I don’t expect this cooler to be around in a year. With a few months of hard use, I’m sure I’ll notice dings, dents, and destruction. But since most folks are buying these as single or occasional-use options, I think there’s a lot of value.

Capacity and Real-World Fit

On the label that accompanies the Recool, Igloo says that you can fit up to 20 cans at max capacity. In my experience, that feels like a stretch. Yes, you can absolutely fit 20 cans in the Recool. But that doesn’t take into account anything else you may need — like ice.

During testing, I found the sweet spot for functionality to be around a dozen cans. I’d layer ice on the bottom first and then start piling the cans in. If I did this, there was plenty of room for cans, ice, and a little extra space for the occasional snack or treat.

The interior is basic; you won’t find any shelves, compartments, or dividers like you see in other, pricier coolers. It’s a big empty box. But again, it’s a $10 paper cooler designed for occasional use. When you keep that in mind, it makes a lot of sense.

Sustainability and Environmental Edge

One of the Recool’s most compelling features is that it’s part of a broader shift away from single-use foam. With bans on styrofoam already in states like Colorado, Maine, Maryland, New York, Virginia, Washington, and Vermont, alternatives aren’t just nice to have. They’re necessary. The Recool was ahead of that curve.

Styrofoam is notoriously bad for the environment, taking more than 500 years to break down in landfills. Even then, it doesn’t fully decompose; it just crumbles into microplastics, which continues to be a problem. By contrast, the Recool is made from recycled paper pulp and a plant-based binder. This means it’s both compostable and biodegradable after use.

Instead of adding to the problem, it quietly disappears back into the waste stream. No, it’s not an immediate cure-all to an ever-growing problem, but it does help a lot.

Room for Improvement

The Recool lives in an in-between space: it’s designed to be reusable, but not forever. Some people will treat it like a single-use cooler, recycling or composting it after a weekend. Others will squeeze a few months of day trips and tailgates out of it.

What it’s not meant for is years of service like a hard-sided plastic cooler. The pulp material will eventually soften and show wear, especially if it’s stored damp or left out in the elements. And while the ice retention is better than I expected, it still doesn’t come close to hard-sided options like a Yeti. For $10, those compromises make sense, but it’s worth knowing where the line is between “pleasantly durable” and “temporary by design.”

Final Thoughts: Igloo Recool Review

The Recool surprised me with how well it kept drinks cold, even on hot days. And, I loved knowing it wasn’t leaving behind a chunk of styrofoam waste. It’s not built for multiday trips or long-term use. But, as a $10 eco-friendly cooler for day adventures, it does exactly what it promises.

If you need something cheap, simple, and sustainable to keep a round of soda water cold, this is the one. And honestly, I’ll back any paper cooler that can survive a dumbbell test.