UK grocer Waitrose has extended its partnership with tech company Polytag which involves invisible tags being placed on the retailer’s own milk range to help it monitor packaging recycling rates.
Trade publication The Grocer reports the story, indicating that nearly all of Waitrose’s own milk packaging will have the tags on. This is then monitored at multiple waste management sites across the UK, helping Waitrose gain access to information about how many of its plastic milk bottles are ultimately being recycled.
Alice Rackley, CEO of Polytag, said on LinkedIn: “Absolutely buzzing – Polytag Limited is live and scaling across Waitrose & Partners.
“If you’ve ever wondered “is it worth rinsing out my milk bottles and recycling them?” we see you! Keep going.”
She added: “With the Polytag Limited UV tag detection network activated across the UK we are enabling brands like Waitrose & Partners to prove – at barcode level – that their customers are great at recycling.”
It was April this year when Waitrose joined Polytag’s plastic recycling Ecotrace Programme, a UK initiative aimed at transforming the tracking and recycling of packaging in the UK.
As a member, Waitrose has access to the Polytag dashboard – an online hub which displays live barcode-level lifecycle data on plastic packaging materials as they enter the recycling stream. Ocado and Marks & Spencer are also part of the scheme.
Polytag’s invisible UV tag detection technology is in materials recovery facilities across the UK, which alert the system when packaging ‘marked’ with Polytag’s invisible UV tags.
Denise Mathieson, head of packaging design & delivery at Waitrose, said at the time of the partnership announcement that the move was a “significant step forward in enhancing our ability to track and understand the journey of our plastic packaging post-consumption”.
“We will gain unprecedented insights into how our packaging is recycled, allowing us to make more informed decisions that support a circular economy,” she added.
“This initiative aligns with our ongoing sustainability efforts and reinforces our dedication to reducing single-use plastic waste.”
[image credit: Green Retail World]
