Polytag expands into Scotland

Polytag has installed its UV tag detection technology at Wyllie Recycling's material recovery facility in Perth, Scotland, extending its Ecotrace Programme into Scotland so that brands can see what happens to their packaging after it leaves the shelf.

The installation is Polytag's 15th UV detection unit. Wyllie Recycling operates a 4.5-acre facility in Perth that processes twin-stream curbside recycling for several Scottish local authorities and handles 15,000 metric tons of post-consumer plastic packaging a year. Brands with UV-tagged packaging on the market will be able to see data on how their products are recovered across Scotland. Ocado Retail and Waitrose already use Polytag's network of detection units.

The system detects invisible UV tags on packaging as it passes through enabled facilities, capturing barcode-level data on which tagged packaging is detected, and where and when. Depending on the information encoded, the tags can also show the plastic melt flow temperature, the packaging converter and food-grade status. Polytag says this helps businesses assess packaging performance, inform design and build evidence on recycling outcomes as the UK's Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system evolves.

The expansion coincides with TIME naming the Ecotrace Programme one of its Best Innovations of 2026, in the Reuse & Recycle category, among 300 selected innovations.

'Bringing Ecotrace to Scotland is an important step in building a clearer picture of what happens to packaging after use. Recycling doesn't stop at the point a household puts its packaging out for collection, and we need better visibility of what happens next if we're going to make meaningful progress towards a more circular economy,' said Alice Rackley, CEO of Polytag. 'Wyllie Recycling's participation helps extend that visibility into Scotland. The more recycling facilities that join the network, the more representative the picture becomes, giving brands better evidence to inform packaging decisions and helping the industry understand how packaging performs in the real world.'