Ultra-violet
Tag-and-Trace Recycling

The Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging Scheme (EPR) will make companies responsible for the full lifecycle of packaging they produce, including collection, sorting and recycling of disposable packaging and waste.

To aid compliance with this legislation, Polytag has developed technology that gives brands access to never-before-seen packaging lifecycle information at the point of recycling thanks to tags on labels, using a grid of UV 2D tags applied during the standard plate printing label process and invisible to the human eye connected recycling centres: Polytag UV Tag Reader system, installed on the plastics conveyer at recycling facilities.

Polytag collaborated with our client Wells Dairy Farm and trusted printing partner, Xact Printing, to tag-and-trace Wells Dairy Farm packaging from creation to recycling, applying Polytag patented ultra-violet detection solution.

Data collection is simultaneously presented on a recycling centre dashboard and a brand account dashboard, as plastic packaging is sorted in real-time. Polytag’s UV Watermarks were successfully detected on Wells Dairy Farm Products at Abergele Bulking Centre. 

Data is transferred by a secure two-way API interface to both the Recycling Centre dashboard and Wells Dairy Farm’s Brand Account dashboard. Thanks to extensive scenario testing the printing system has been developed with fail-safe workarounds to cope with interrupted connections, data loss, or printing breakdowns.

Currently, there is a severe lack of data in the circular economy. Successful EPR and DRS schemes must have access to packaging lifecycle information at the item level. This is data that has never been seen before, meaning that the top FMCG brands can’t make any verified claims about their packaging lifecycle or recycling rates, until now. By applying UV tags, brands get live updates on how their packaging is disposed of and recycled post-consumption.