Companies including PepsiCo, Mondelēz International and pladis are taking part in a trial to help recycling facilities sort packaging.
The HolyGrail 2030 trial, which will take place across Belgium, aims to ascertain whether digital watermarks printed on flexible food packaging such as wrappers and films can help sorting facilities tell what packaging is made of, and if it has been used for food. A digital watermark is an imperceptible code added to the surface of the packaging during the printing process, and read by cameras.
The trial is intended to generate end-to-end practical evidence for future circular packaging systems.
The trial comes just as Europe’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) becomes applicable.
According to the PPWR, contact-sensitive packaging made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) must be 30% recycled by 2030, and contact-sensitive packaging not made from PET must be 10% recycled.
Digital watermarks could help sort packaging
If the trial is successful, using digital watermarks to ascertain whether packaging once held food will enable companies to develop more targeted recycling systems.
The trial will help collect evidence on what must be done if this approach is to be taken, and how such an approach could be scaled.
The trial will test the success of digital watermarks in enabling sorting of packaging collected through Belgium’s household recycling system.
Bales of film that have been sorted are sent to Belgium to Hündgen Entsorgungs’ sorting centre in Germany, where cameras will read the digital watermarks.
“HolyGrail 2030 is a pivotal, cross-industry initiative for better sorting and recycling of flexible packaging in the EU,” says Richard Akkermans, European R&D packaging productivity and sustainability manager at Mondelēz International.
“Achieving circularity for food-contact flexible plastics isn’t just an ambition, it’s a necessity.”
In order to be ready for the PPWR, the trial aims to provide the technical learning that the value chain needs to increase the compatibility, availability and affordability of recycled plastic coming from new technologies, Akkermans explains.
“Flexible plastic packaging remains one of the more complex areas of packaging circularity, and progress will require collaboration across the entire value chain,” adds Dominika Maruszak-Dankbaar, senior packaging sustainability manager for global foods R&D at PepsiCo.
“Through HolyGrail 2030, PepsiCo is working alongside partners to explore how digital watermarking could support more effective sorting and help generate the real-world insights needed to evaluate pathways towards more circular packaging systems. Initiatives like this are important because no single company can drive this kind of system change alone.”
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