Marx and Spencer have become the first supermarket to offer invisible, ultraviolet tags on some milk bottles, aimed at how to revolutionize how plastic packaging is tracked through the recycling system. Developed by recycling technology firm Polytag, these innovative tags are now available across the country on the label of four-s-s milk bottles of M&S, with the primary target to increase recycling rates.
Once the houses recycle these bottles, the plastic detection units of the polytag will scan them if the recycling feature is retroped with the required technique. This process will provide M&S with live recycling data, providing real-time, barcode-tier insight that is in a trip to its single-use plastic packaging.
The polytag states that this data stability is designed to track the goals accurately, increases the accuracy of recycling claims, and strengthens compliance with rules that make businesses compulsory to fund their product packaging waste and fund the recycling. It is also expected that these tags will help reduce the cost of M&S under the extended manufacturer responsibility (EPR) rules through more accurate reporting.
In another commitment, M&S has invested £ 100,000 in the Polytag’s Ecotrace program, which wants to run the nationwide rollout of an invisible UV tag reader network. Other major retailers, including co-op, weightros and Aldi, are also collaborating with polytags to integrate UV tags in their product lines.
Ellis Rackle, Chief Executive Officer of Polytag, emphasized the change in the responsibility of the industry, stating: “Retail vendors and brands are no longer losing the vision of the packaging of the moment that leaves their supply chain. Now under the influence with the EPR, we are entering a new era where the real data is not just auxiliary, we are not just a supportive era.” He said: “By tagging the products and tracking our journey through the recycling system, we are creating a clear line to facilitate sorting from the shelf.
M&S The head of packaging in food, Mark Hitschman highlighted the consumer benefit: “We are expected to get more data and insight about what is happening for our packaging in the real world through our work.