POLYTAG, a specialist in tagging and tracing packaging, has announced an extension of its collaboration with Biffa.
Polytag’s network of plastic detection units situated in recycling centres across the country provides insights – at barcode level – on the journey of packaging through to recycling. The aim is to unlock data to drive greater efficiency and sustainability-focused decision-making in the supply chain.
The firm’s packaging detection technology is now installed at Biffa’s Edmonton Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in North London. This latest installation – part of Polytag’s Ecotrace Programme – enables brands to view and evaluate data capture of their fluorescent UV-tagged packaging across an even greater share of UK recycled material.
Biffa’s Edmonton MRF handles 250,000 tonnes of waste annually, originating from household recycling collections.
Polytag’s mission is to install 12 plastic detection units at MRFs across the UK, which will provide coverage of over 50% of the UK’s household recycling stream through the Ecotrace Programme. This is the seventh installation since the programme was launched in July 2024.
The extension of Polytag and Biffa’s collaboration follows the recent news of Polytag’s partnership with Citeo, a global packaging compliance business, to track the success rate of its Plastic Detection Units in detecting UV-tagged single-use plastic bottles entering one of Europe’s busiest MRFs in France. The live test results found a 100% success rate in detecting the UV tags.
Biffa’s involvement in the Ecotrace Programme follows the ‘Bottle to Bottle’ pilot project led by Polytag in partnership with RECOUP in 2023, where Co-op’s water bottles alongside Aldi and Ocado Retail’s milk bottles were marked with UV tags and traced at Biffa’s Teesside MRF.
Craig Konczak, business director – Biffa MRFs & PRFs, said, “With growing demand for improved visibility and traceability of packaging and products across the value chain, from cradle to grave, digital tracking tools have the potential to revolutionise recycling. That’s why we’re delighted to be working with Polytag to gather new insights into the real-world application of these tools and explore the data being retrieved from our recovery facilities.
“In the future, tools such as these have the potential to improve the visibility of material flows in the UK, provide greater insights into recycling behaviour, and help to inform strategic decision-making and recycling policy in the UK.”
Alice Rackley, CEO of Polytag, added, “As Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and Simpler Recycling regulations come into effect, businesses face a pressing need for accurate, real-time data about the lifecycle of recycled packaging materials. Developing our collaboration with Biffa comes at the perfect moment for us, granting access to barcode-level packaging data within the UK’s most populated city for the first time.
“Through our Ecotrace Programme, this will help our brand clients understand the complex recycling journey of packaging in London while allowing them to stay ahead of complicated legislative changes.”
Polytag utilises invisible UV tags on packaging to enable tracking of packaging throughout the recycling process. Invisible to the human eye, the tags are captured by Polytag’s plastic detection units. Data on when, where, and how much packaging is recovered is available in real-time through the Polytag dashboard.
