The secret sauce to recycling plastic: traceability

As packaged goods companies struggle to meet high-profile commitments to reduce their dependence on oil-derived virgin plastic and use more recycled polymers in their products, the pressure is building on the plastics value chain to prove where the materials they use came from.

Big consumer brands like Coca-Cola, Mars and Unilever have pledged to increase the amount of recycled content they use to make beverage containers and detergent bottles to more than a quarter by 2025. The European Union is also expected to introduce a law that year that mandates all polyethylene terephthalate (PET) drink bottles sold in the EU to contain 25 per cent recycled content.