M&S is collaborating with a recycling technology firm to track the journey of its drinks bottles, cartons, and other plastic packaging.
The Polytag system applies an invisible tag onto containers, which can be detected by electronic readers at recycling centers.
Items with these tags will start appearing on the retailer’s shelves within the next three months, the Guardian reports.
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Various aspects of the system have undergone testing with The Co-op, Aldi, and Ocado, the online grocery specialist that has also invested in Polytag. However, this will mark the inaugural large-scale implementation of the scheme.
As part of the initiative, M&S will also finance the installation of two readers at recycling sites in Northern Ireland and Edmonton, North London. These additions will complement the existing sites in Teesside and North Wales.
The project launches as retailers gear up for new fees on plastic packaging disposal next year under the government’s extended producer responsibility (EPR) regime.
Retailers are currently required to monitor and report their packaging sales, with future fees anticipated to align with these measures.
The retail sector has called for funds generated by the EPR scheme to be allocated towards enhancing recycling infrastructure in the UK, facilitating local material reuse.
Polytag’s CEO, Alice Rackley, said the system would assist in sorting plastic pots and bottles, enabling the separation of items that previously held food, which are more valuable, from those contaminated with household chemicals like bleach, making the process simpler.
“There is a massive single-use plastic crisis and we have got to start collecting data about it and to use that to try and sort it out,” Rackley told the Gaurdian.
She added that the ability to show items had been properly recycled might also be used by retailers as a way to demand lower EPR fees.
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