Real-Time Recycling
Data With Aldi

The Award-winning European supermarket chain, Aldi has deployed Polytag’s invisible UV tags onto its product packaging to be able to tag and trace individual products across their full lifecycle. By selecting Polytag’s invisible UV tags, Aldi is able to track products without losing valuable label space.

Aldi has a strong legacy in the sustainability space, exceeding its 2025 goals to reduce food waste as early as 2022, reducing primary plastic packaging and ensuring 100% of Aldi own-label primary packaging is reusable, recyclable or home-compostable. 

Working with Polytag to implement invisible UV watermarks provides item-level recycling data that is captured in real time, providing Aldi with insights on the quantity of its packaging that is actually recycled and allowing the retailer to track an item’s journey through the recycling process—data that has not been available before now.

The printing of UV tags provides supply chain stakeholders with unique packaging lifecycle data, including where and when it was produced and the percentage of recycled material it contains, protecting against fraud. This technology also allows legislators to measure business liabilities and enforce legislation by identifying plastic packaging ownership. Local authorities and recycling centers can capture real-time data on packaging composition and breakdown of bales, helping to inform recycling strategy, investment in sorting and recovery equipment and onward tracking of materials.