Aldi and Arla partner with recycling paltform Polytag

Aldi UK and Arla Foods are trialing Polytag's UV-tagging technology to track milk bottle packaging through the UK recycling system, expanding a packaging traceability project first trialed in 2023.

The trial uses invisible fluorescent UV tags printed onto wraparound labels with a proprietary ink developed by Sun Chemical. The labels are being produced by Saica Flex and applied to Arla’s milk bottles at its Oakthorpe dairy in North London.

The project is designed to provide brands with data on how packaging moves through the recycling stream. When tagged bottles pass through materials recovery facilities (MRFs), Polytag’s Plastic Detection Units identify the UV markers and capture real-time data on the packaging’s progress through the recycling process.

Alice Rackley, chief executive officer of Polytag, said: ‘This next phase of deployment with Aldi and Arla milk bottle labels demonstrates the scalability and reliability of the UV-tagging. This represents continued progress in packaging design, offering brands an easy, cost-effective path to comprehensive recycling insights.’

According to the companies, the pilot will provide greater visibility into recycling rates and packaging flows, helping Aldi and Arla better understand the end-of-life performance of their milk bottle packaging.

Luke Emery, plastics and packaging director at Aldi UK, said: ‘This next phase with Polytag represents an exciting step forward in how we use data to drive our sustainability strategy. By integrating this advanced traceability technology into our packaging, we can gain deeper insights into the lifecycle of our materials.’

Helena Delgado Nordmann, head of sustainability at Arla Foods UK, added: ‘As Europe’s largest dairy cooperative, Arla is committed to understanding how our packaging performs beyond point of sale. By working with Polytag, we hope to gain valuable insight into how milk bottle packaging moves through the recycling system, helping us to make more informed decisions about future packaging developments and supporting our ongoing efforts to improve packaging circularity.’

Unlike the original 2023 pilot, which used pressure-sensitive labels, the latest trial uses wraparound labels printed with Sun Chemical’s fluorescent ink. The company said the ink has been tested using Recyclass Washing Quick Test Procedures and EPBP Quicktest QT 507, with results indicating it does not affect the quality of recycled polymers. The ink has also been approved for use with Polytag’s detection technology.

Stefaan D’hoore, director of business development, specialty inks and coatings at Sun Chemical, said: ‘This deployment marks an exciting milestone as the first commercial use of Sun Chemical’s fluorescent ink with Polytag’s technology, demonstrating how collaboration across the packaging value chain can support greater transparency.’

The UV tags are invisible to consumers and are applied using conventional printing processes, allowing converters to integrate the technology without changes to production speeds. As packaging passes through MRFs equipped with Polytag’s detection units, the data is uploaded to the company’s dashboard, where brands can analyze recycling performance and packaging flows.

The announcement follows Polytag’s recent detection trials in France, where the company said it achieved a 100 percent detection rate during testing with packaging compliance organization Citeo.