Online grocery retailer Ocado Retail is scaling up its packaging traceability technology in the UK through its partnership with Polytag.
The retailer will use invisible UV tags on its milk range, enabling a circular economy at scale.
The tags allow for real-time, barcode-level insights, enhancing the understanding of recycling patterns for Ocado Retail’s products.
Polytag CEO Alice Rackley said: “This is the beginning of an industry-wide shift towards a more transparent recycling system. Retailers and brands can no longer afford to be in the dark about what happens to their packaging.
“Ocado Retail’s scale and pace in rolling out this technology has established a template for the whole industry, and proves what’s possible, and necessary, as we enter a new era of accountability for FMCG [fast-moving consumer goods] brands. The data now exists. The infrastructure is in place. Ocado Retail is showing the industry how to use it.”
The initiative is part of Ocado Retail’s commitment as a founding partner of Polytag’s Ecotrace Programme, which aims to revolutionise the tracking of domestic packaging waste.
In addition to the UV tags, Ocado Retail has introduced Polytag QR codes on over 100 of its own-label products.
These codes give consumers clear instructions on recycling and sustainability, bridging the gap between packaging design and end-of-life impact.
Polytag has equipped several material recovery facilities across the UK and Northern Ireland with plastic detection units. These facilities can now reportedly monitor nearly half of the UK’s household recycling stream.
The units detect UV-tagged items and relay live data to the Polytag dashboard, which provides valuable insights into the life cycle of Ocado Retail’s packaging.
This detailed information will help Ocado Retail to evaluate real-world recycling rates and make strategic decisions to comply with extended producer responsibility (EPR) legislation. The legislation requires retailers to manage the entire life cycle of their packaging and reduce related costs, reported Labels and Labeling.
Ocado Retail senior sustainability manager Laura Fernandez said: “Ocado Retail is constantly looking for data-driven approaches to reduce environmental impact, and we’re proud to be the first online retailer to introduce Polytag’s UV-watermark technology on our own-brand range.
“The technology allows us to truly understand the full life cycle of our packaging, and make meaningful decisions based on that data. Being able to track our products through the recycling system is a significant milestone as we pave the way toward more sustainable practices.”
