British Online Grocery Retailer Ocado Adopts Polytag UV Barcodes

Welsh-based technology company Polytag is making serious inroads in the world of improving recycling operations and data.

A new success is the adoption of Polytag’s UV barcode system by online grocery retailer Ocado, which is using Polytag’s solution for its range of milk products.

The barcodes are printed across all the package graphics, but are not visible to consumers.
Image Source: Polytag

As companies need to comply with the UK’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) rules, retrieving accurate data on a brand’s packages as they reach the end of their lifecycle and keeping track of recycling is essential for EPR reporting.

“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 lifecycle 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.”

~ Laura Fernandez, Senior Sustainability Manager at Ocado Retail

The Polytag Ecotrace solution has been installed in multiple recycling facilities in the UK. It provides detailed recycling data for brands that have adopted the Polytag barcodes, using UV scanning technology right at the start of the recycling operation.

The system is powered by the UV-visible GS1 Datamatrix barcodes printed across the package graphics. These barcodes are unseen by consumers but are easily detected and the embedded data retrieved at the recycling facilities.

The data provided by the Polytag solution helps brands show their compliance with the EPR rules and can reduce the overall costs of compliance. EPR is an integral part of the UK’s ability to meet its commitment of a 65% recycling rate by 2035.