In Europe, a trio of companies are set to trial a digital deposit return scheme (DDRS) for recycling plastic jugs in kerbside bins, according to the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE).
The team, comprising of Danish-based app developer Bower, British online grocer Ocado Retail, and Welsh recycling technology company Polytag, will hold the trial in the UK.
Ocado will place a unique QR code on more than eight million milk bottles, and for the first 20,000 codes scanned, customers can earn back 20 pence (around 40 cents), per bottle into a digital wallet on the Bowe app. Users can then withdraw this money into their bank accounts. After the 20,000 have been claimed, participants can then claim alternative rewards.
After downloading the app, users add their regular recycling bins and bank account. Once they scan the unique QR code on the milk bottle, the money will be deposited once the packaging is disposed of. The bottles will then be collected by local government services and send to material recovery facilities for processing.
The 20 pence refund is equivalent to the amount proposed for the UK’s upcoming Deposit Scheme Leigislation, which the government is considering delaying until 2025.
Polytag CEO and co-founder Alice Rackley said, “At the current claim rate, we anticipate all rewards will be claimed after six to eight weeks.” She said in an interview with SPE that the partners will assess the success of the trial through “a combination of customer feedback, plus proof of the technology and integrations all working seamlessly to collect never-before-seen data on packaging lifecycles at barcode level.”
In other SPE news, the SPE-ANZ chapter is holding the Plastics and the Circular Economy Conference from 9-13 October, with two in-person days in Melbourne. Register to attend here.
