Pioneering digital watermarks for smart packaging recycling in the European Union: cross-value chain initiative to drive circular economy goals launched
Pioneering digital watermarks for smart packaging recycling in the European Union: cross-value chain initiative to drive circular economy goals launched
September 15, 2020
Press Release: AIM
Under the auspices of AIM, the European Brands Association, more than 85 companies and organizations from the complete packaging value chain have joined forces with the ambitious goal to assess whether a pioneering digital technology can enable better sorting and higher-quality recycling rates for packaging in the European Union, to drive a truly circular economy. Borealis is one of the members of the consortium
One of the most pressing challenges in achieving a circular economy for packaging is to better sort post-consumer waste by accurately identifying packaging, resulting in more efficient and higher-quality recycling. Digital watermarks may have the potential to revolutionize the way packaging is sorted in the waste management system, as it opens new possibilities that are currently not feasible with existing technologies. The discovery was made under the New Plastics Economy program of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which investigated different innovations to improve post-consumer recycling. Digital watermarks were found to be the most promising technology, gathering support among the majority of stakeholders and passing a basic proof-of-concept on a test sorting line. The branded goods industry has now stepped in to facilitate the next phase as cross-value chain initiative under the name ‘HolyGrail 2.0’, which will take place on a much greater scale and scope. This will include the launch of an industrial pilot to prove the viability of digital watermarks technologies for more accurate sorting of packaging and higher-quality recycling, as well as the business case at large scale.
“The three key ingredients here are innovation, sustainability and digital, combined to achieve the objective of the Green Deal toward a clean, circular and climate neutral economy,” outlined Michelle Gibbons, director general at AIM. “It is terrific to see such enthusiasm from across the industry and to be able to unite such expertise from the complete packaging value chain, from brand owners and retailers to converters, EPR schemes, waste management systems, recyclers and many more. Collaboration is the way forward to achieve the EU’s circular economy goals.”
Digital watermarks are imperceptible codes, the size of a postage stamp, covering the surface of consumer goods packaging. They can carry a wide range of attributes such as manufacturer, SKU, type of plastics used and composition for multilayer objects, food versus non-food usage, etc. The aim is that once the packaging has entered into a waste sorting facility, the digital watermark can be detected and decoded by a standard high resolution camera on the sorting line, which then – based on the transferred attributes – is able to sort the packaging into corresponding streams. This would result in better and more accurate sorting streams, and thus consequently in higher-quality recyclates, benefiting the complete packaging value chain. Next to this ‘digital recycling passport’, digital watermarks also have the potential to be used in other areas such as consumer engagement, supply chain visibility and retail operations.
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