The most eco-friendly cooler is the one you already have.

Probably an insulated bag. The greenest option is not buying anything new — reuse what you’ve got, borrow a friend’s, or find a used hard cooler on Craigslist.

If you do need to buy, insulated bags win over hard coolers. They use less material, less energy to produce, and pack flatter for storage. Look for bags with recycled polyester shells or natural fiber insulation like wool or hemp. Avoid single-use Styrofoam coolers entirely — they’re basically a landfill brick with handles.

For hard coolers, the most sustainable choice is one built to last decades (think Rotomolded polyethylene) and buy it secondhand. The carbon footprint of that new Yeti is mostly in the manufacturing, not the shipping. Make it last forever.

The planet doesn’t need a new cooler. It needs you to use the one you’ve got.