Polytag has extended its Ecotrace programme to N+P Crayford, the UK’s largest Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), significantly expanding the reach of the UK’s only nationwide plastic packaging tracking network.
The addition of Crayford takes the total number of facilities in the programme to 14 UK-wide and represents a major milestone in Polytag’s mission to give brands and retailers unprecedented visibility into what happens to plastic packaging after it enters the recycling system.
The Ecotrace programme combines Polytag’s invisible UV tag technology with a nationwide network of detection units installed across strategically selected recycling facilities. This enables barcode-level data to be captured with up to 100% accuracy as plastic moves through the UK’s recycling infrastructure, giving brands verified, real-world insight and certainty into where and when their packaging is recovered, via the Polytag platform. The technology is also compatible with enhanced optical sorting systems, creating the potential to combine packaging-level traceability with more accurate identification and separation of materials within recycling facilities.
N+P Crayford processes more than 450,000 tonnes of mixed recycling each year and serves over 2 million households across Greater London and Southern England. Following a major site upgrade, the facility now forms a key part of the Ecotrace network, extending its geographical reach into one of the UK’s most significant population centres.
The expansion brings the programme’s coverage to almost half of the UK’s household recycling stream. By strategically deploying technology across the country’s largest MRFs, Polytag is building the scale of data needed to create the clearest picture yet of how plastic packaging moves through the UK’s recycling system.
Brands already signed up to have packaging traced through the site include Ecotrace members Waitrose, Ocado and Kraft Heinz, who will now receive even more representative data to support packaging design, recycling performance and future Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) requirements.
Alice Rackley, CEO of Polytag commented: “Ecotrace has always been about creating the visibility needed to build a better recycling system. The more of the waste stream we can see, the more valuable the data becomes for brands and retailers making decisions about packaging. Adding N+P Crayford is a significant milestone because it takes us a step closer to a truly national picture of how plastic packaging moves through the UK recycling system.
“As responsibility for packaging continues to evolve through EPR, better data will be essential. You cannot improve what you cannot measure, and Ecotrace is providing the infrastructure needed to help the industry design better packaging, improve recycling outcomes and ultimately build a more effective circular economy.”
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