ALDI has become the latest UK supermarket to partner with recycling technology company Polytag to gain ‘unprecedented traceability’ of its packaging through the supply chain.
The retailer will trial the deployment of Polytag’s invisible UV tags – printed by self-adhesive label manufacturer Interket UK – onto its packaging, starting from July 2023. With the company’s unique readers installed at the Biffa Teeside recycling centre, item-level recycling data will be captured in real time, providing Aldi with insights on the quantity of its packaging that is actually recycled and allowing the firm to track an item’s journey through the recycling process.
This information will help the supermarket measure and track its performance against its sustainability targets, such as halving its plastic footprint by 2025.
Alice Rackley, CEO of Polytag, said, “Leading retailers in the UK are awake to the fact that the only way we will truly tackle the waste problem in this country is by using data. Gaining access to real-time packaging lifecycle information will be a game-changer, enabling retailers to develop a greater understanding of their products’ journey and make meaningful progress towards their sustainability pledges.”
Luke Emery, plastics and packaging director at Aldi UK, added, “We are constantly working to be a more sustainable retailer, so we are excited to see how Polytag’s technology will enable us to access and analyse more data around our packaging lifecycles, and use these learnings to accelerate our progress towards our sustainability goals.”
Polytag’s UV tag reading technology was developed in partnership with researchers at the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre.
