Sustainability
& Digimarc

Sustainability
&
Digimarc

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We must transform every element of our take-make-waste system: how we manage resources, how we make and use products, and what we do with the materials afterwards. Only then can we create a thriving circular economy that can benefit everyone within the limits of our planet.

Consumers today are concerned about waste and unrecycled plastics in our environment. Digimarc watermarks can improve plastic sorting rates and accuracy during recycling, and ultimately divert packaging from landfills and oceans.
Digimarc watermarks have the potential to revolutionise the way packaging is sorted in the post-consumer waste management system by accurately identifying and separating packaging into sorting streams.

This turns packages into data-rich objects for a digital supply chain, enhancing plastic substrates with a ‘digital passport’ to be recycled and provide data on return and recycling rates.
Ultimately, this results in a higher quality and quantity of recyclates and benefits the complete packaging value chain.

Sustainability Benefits of Digimarc®

Sorting different materials into their appropriate waste streams can be both time-consuming and costly, while errors such as incorrect pallet labelling create waste throughout the supply chain.

By integrating Digimarc watermarks into Wipak printed films, we can provide end consumers with recycling instructions, improve material and substrate sorting, and ensure scanning accuracy at multi-reuse facilities.

If implemented at processing plants, Digimarc watermarks enable recyclers to increase their efficiency and retain more materials within the circular economy where finite resources can be infinitely reused.

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HolyGrail 2.0 Initiative

The Digital Watermarks Initiative HolyGrail 2.0 – driven by AIM – European Brands Association and powered by the Alliance to End Plastic Waste – is a pilot project with the objective to prove the technical viability of digital watermarks for accurate sorting of packaging waste as well as the economic viability of the business case at large scale.

More than 130 companies, organisations and brand owners from the complete packaging value chain have joined forces with the ambitious goal to assess whether a pioneering digital technology can enable better sorting and higher quality recycling rates for packaging in the EU, to drive a truly circular economy. The cross-value chain initiative has a clear governance and membership structure, based on the HolyGrail 2.0 Charter.

How can we achieve a Circular Economy for Packaging in the EU? One of the biggest challenges is how to maximise our resources through optimal sorting and recycling. We need to better sort our post-consumer waste in the EU waste management systems by accurately identifying plastic packaging, resulting in more efficient and higher quality recycling.

To find out more, watch this video from AIM.

Wipak is proud to be involved in HolyGrail 2.0, offering our expertise as a member of the printing experts working group. As of 2021, Phase II for Semi-Industrial Testing has been completed.

Watch the video to find out more.

We look forward to the outcome of Phase III Industrial Tests where brand owners and retailers will bring their enhanced products commercially to the market, and functional prototypes will be deployed in commercial sorting and recycling facilities.

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We are pleased to bring Digimarc watermark enhancements to our valued customers. At a time when sustainability is of the utmost importance, this unique technology will help them to contribute to circular economies and meet their sustainability pledges.

Read more about our journey to Carbon Zero and
discover our GreenChoice by Wipak sustainable packaging portfolio, including certified fully recyclable packaging solutions: