Coding waste collection: How digital serialization could save packagers and governments billions

19 Aug 2022 --- Digitalizing recycling and refill systems at the consumer and manufacturing levels could drastically improve waste management but is not yet being considered – on paper – by policymakers. Despite this, trials consistently show that digital marking will improve engagement with waste reduction efforts and save vast amounts of money across the value chain.

Tony McGurk, chairman of UK startup Reward4Waste, has been developing technology for a digital deposit return scheme (DRS) in the UK for some time. He tells PackagingInsights that the concept could revolutionize how collection and sortation are managed. 

“Using serialization, Digital DRS can track-and-trace items through the supply chain through unique coding. This brings transparency, traceability, and accountability. It’s a brand’s dream technology – some brands really get it, others are struggling.”

McGurk also says numerous studies and pilots using the technology have found it is a viable system for improving DRS, which is set to be updated and newly implemented throughout the UK in 2023. 

Research by Resource Futures also found that a digital DRS could significantly reduce implementation costs, with an estimated £3 billion (US$3.56 billion) being saved over 11 years compared with the all-in reverse vending machine-based option modeled by Defra.

At the consumer level, tracking and return of deposits would be made far simpler.Pilot success 
Trials conducted by Reward4Waste have so far turned out positive results, including one run with the Irish Waste Management Association, using participants from waste management company Panda’s household collection scheme in Dublin.

Consumers paid a deposit on the items purchased and redeemed the deposit when they placed the containers in their recycling bin at home. The trial also tracked the containers from the point of purchase, consumer, collector, and arrival at a sorting facility.

“This was a world-first pilot, testing citizen engagement and return rates for digital DRS technology with the results demonstrating an impressive 94% return rate,” says McGurk. 

A recent UK survey also showed a majority of consumers prefer the idea of a digital DRS. Last week, a poll by GS1 also found a third (34%) believe recycling is unnecessarily complicated, while 45% think that simplicity would be the most important aspect of the recycling system were to be redesigned.

Recent figures from Defra show that the amount of household waste recycled in England fell by 1.5% in 2020 to 44%.

Going systemic
Robbie Staniforth, innovation and policy director at consultancy Ecosurety, says digitalization would be a “happy compromise” for consumers.

“There are many responsible people in the UK who will be less than enamored with the prospect of having to collect and return containers that they previously successfully recycled at home.” Current DRS systems are outdated and expensive, says Staniforth.

However, he says the more important question is why digitalization is not being taken to the manufacturing level. 

“Digital marking of bottles could enable sorting by manufacturer, which could be game-changing. If one steps back and looks at the inordinate cost of reverse vending machines, one can’t help but feel the money could be better spent to leapfrog the old world DRS for recycling to new innovative DRS for reuse.”

Tech challenges
Despite the promising opportunities digital DRS could hold, it still faces minor technical challenges and some more serious political difficulties, explains McGurk. 

“Challenges relating to the application of coding (track and trace) technology to containers have been suggested, but the reality is that these can be easily overcome in production by key brands with mass distribution.”

“Inevitably, there will always be some containers that fall outside of any DRS, but for which a return system should still exist. A hybrid return system can accommodate products that don’t have the coding, for example, the lower run drinks containers of craft products with limited distribution,” he continues. 

“Our greatest challenge, however, is overturning a mindset that doesn’t look beyond traditional DRS. Brands need to seize the ambition that this brave new world offers and run with it – they also need to realize that Digital DRS is not an app, it’s a fully formed solution.”

Political hurdles 
Bringing this change of mindset into policy is another challenge. Reward4Waste has been engaging with various political representatives to change this, claims McGurk. 

“We have met multiple ministers at the highest level during the consultation period; Digital DRS is an evolving project, and every day we are developing new features that take the process beyond simply meeting recycling rates.” 

“For example, only a few weeks ago, we were involved in a meeting with Defra and HMRC Treasury on some of the practicalities of the backend system about accountability – something that our system excels at.”

By Louis Gore-Langton