Ocado Retail adopts Polytag’s watermarks for recycling transparency

Online retailer Ocado has become the first in the UK to integrate Polytag’s UV watermarks for its milk range. The UV tags are invisible to customers and readable by material recovery facilities (MRFs), which can supply Ocado with data on where and when its milk packaging is recycled.

Alice Rackley, CEO at Polytag, says: “This is the beginning of an industry-wide shift toward a more transparent recycling system. Retailers and brands can no longer afford to be in the dark about what happens to their packaging.”

Rackley argues that Ocado’s scale and pace in rolling out this technology has established a template for the whole industry, while proving what’s possible and necessary, as a new era of accountability for FMCG brands arises. 

“The data now exists. The infrastructure is in place. Ocado Retail is showing the industry how to use it.”

Laura Fernandez, senior sustainability manager at Ocado, adds: “Ocado 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.”

Currently, more than 100 of Ocado’s own-label products feature Polytag QR codes that provide consumers with recycling instructions and sustainability information, to help “bridge the gap between packaging design and its end-of-life impact.”

Polytag’s Ecotrace Programme

Ocado Retail is a founding partner of Polytag’s Ecotrace Programme, an initiative aiming to reshape how packaging is tracked and accounted for once it enters the UK’s waste stream.

Through the program, Polytag has introduced a network of Plastic Detection Units in high-volume MRFs in the UK. The units can monitor nearly 50% of the UK household recycling stream, detect items, live sharing, and verify data via Polytag’s dashboard.

Such information can provide insight into the lifecycle of Ocado Retail’s packaging, such as “real-world” recycling rates to facilitate informed decisions on meeting EPR requirements.