As global concerns about environmental sustainability rise, the packaging industry faces mounting pressure to adopt innovative solutions that address the challenges of waste management, material circularity, and regulatory compliance. One such groundbreaking innovation is digital watermarking, a technology poised to reshape how packaging is sorted, recycled, and reintegrated into the circular economy.
In a recent discussion involving key stakeholders in the HolyGrail 2.0 project, experts examined how digital watermarking has evolved, its proven potential, and what lies ahead as industries strive to meet ambitious sustainability targets by 2030.
Understanding Digital Watermarking: A Game-Changer in Recycling
At its core, digital watermarking embeds imperceptible codes into packaging materials, either through printing or embossing. These codes contain detailed information about the packaging, such as material type, former use, and recyclability. When scanned at sorting facilities, digital watermarks enable highly accurate detection and categorization of packaging waste, allowing for more efficient and cleaner recycling streams.
As Margarita Trombetti, Project Manager at AIM, explains, "We’ve proven that intelligent sorting through digital watermarks is not just a concept – it works. It’s a step closer to closing the loop on packaging."
HolyGrail’s Journey: From Concept to Industry Transformation
The HolyGrail initiative, now in its 2.0 iteration, is a pre-competitive, cross-value chain collaboration that aims to unlock the full potential of digital watermarking for packaging sustainability. Spearheaded by AIM, the European Brands Association, the project has brought together stakeholders from across the packaging ecosystem, including brand owners, retailers, recyclers, and technology providers.
Initially, HolyGrail 1.0 focused on investigating the feasibility of digital watermarking, while HolyGrail 2.0 has scaled the technology through rigorous industrial testing and validation. As of today, HolyGrail 2.0 has achieved TRL9 (Technology Readiness Level 9) – the highest level of technological maturity – proving that the technology is ready for full-scale implementation.
Why Digital Watermarking Matters
Plastic waste, particularly from food-contact packaging, has long been a thorny issue in the sustainability conversation. Traditional recycling methods often downcycle plastic waste into lower-value materials. Digital watermarks, however, enable intelligent sorting, allowing high-quality, food-grade recycled plastic to re-enter the production loop.
Grana Malure, Sustainable Packaging Lead Specialist at Arla Foods, highlights the significance of this innovation: "Digital watermarks enable us to recover our own packaging from the waste market, ensuring it remains a valuable resource rather than becoming waste."
Richard Akamans, European R&D Packaging Manager at Mondelēz, adds, "This technology provides positive confirmation that a package is food-contact safe, something other sorting technologies cannot do as reliably."
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Overcoming Initial Challenges
Implementing digital watermarking in real-world applications has not been without challenges. Early skepticism within companies revolved around technical feasibility, financial investment, and the invisibility of the watermarks.
For instance, Arla Foods had to address concerns from production teams about how embossing might affect production efficiency and from marketing teams worried about any potential visual impact on branding. Through careful testing and collaboration with digital watermarking providers, these challenges were mitigated. Mondelēz faced similar hurdles but found that digital watermarks could be effectively hidden within complex designs and brand graphics without compromising detectability.
Richard Akamans reflects, "The hardest part was building the business case – convincing stakeholders that the upfront investment would unlock significant downstream benefits. But today, those benefits are clearer than ever."
Scaling Up: Results from HolyGrail 2.0
HolyGrail 2.0 recently concluded its most comprehensive trials to date, validating digital watermarking’s performance under real-world conditions. Conducted at a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) near Cologne, Germany, the trials demonstrated exceptional results:
- Sorting Efficiency: Over 90% sorting accuracy was achieved across a wide range of packaging materials.
- Detection Scale: Over 5.6 million items across nearly 6,000 SKUs were successfully detected.
- Conditions: The trials used real post-consumer waste under challenging conditions, further proving the technology’s robustness.
These results confirm that digital watermarking is ready for industrial-scale deployment, paving the way for its adoption across the packaging value chain.
HolyGrail 2030: The Way Forward
With the European Union’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive mandating 10% recycled plastic content in food packaging by 2030, the next phase – HolyGrail 2030 – has clear and urgent goals. The focus will shift to scaling the technology, ensuring economic feasibility, and fostering industry-wide adoption.
Key Objectives for HolyGrail 2030:
- Market Demonstrations: Two major pilots are underway:
- In Belgium, focusing on flexible polypropylene (PP) packaging.
- In Germany, targeting rigid polypropylene food packaging.
- Circular Supply Chains: Develop systems that ensure brands can reclaim their packaging post-consumption, thereby closing the loop.
- Collaboration Across the Value Chain: Engage stakeholders from product design to recycling to maximize the economic and environmental benefits of digital watermarking.
- Food-Grade Recycling: Prioritize technologies that ensure recycled plastics meet stringent safety and quality standards for food-contact use.
Grana Malure emphasizes the urgency of scaling up: "By 2030, the ability to use recycled plastic in packaging will be a license to operate. Companies need to act now or risk being left behind."
Richard Akamans concurs, urging industries to embrace this opportunity: "We need to get the right collection, sorting, and recycling technologies in place. The more stakeholders involved, the faster we can make this a reality."
Key Takeaways
- Proven Technology: Digital watermarking has achieved TRL9, demonstrating its readiness for industrial-scale deployment.
- Sorting Efficiency: Trials in real-world conditions achieved over 90% sorting accuracy, proving the technology’s robustness.
- Regulatory Compliance: By 2030, EU regulations will require 10% recycled plastic content in food packaging, making technologies like digital watermarking essential.
- Circular Economy: Digital watermarks enable high-quality recycling, ensuring plastic waste re-enters the production loop as food-grade material.
- Cross-Value Chain Collaboration: Success depends on the participation of brand owners, recyclers, retailers, and technology providers.
- Future Pilots: Upcoming trials in Belgium and Germany aim to demonstrate the economic and environmental benefits of scaled-up digital watermarking.
- Call to Action: Companies must act now to integrate this technology into their sustainability strategies and meet future regulatory requirements.
A Vision for a Circular Future
Digital watermarking represents a transformative leap in the journey toward a circular economy. By enabling intelligent sorting, reducing contamination, and improving the recyclability of plastic packaging, it addresses critical pain points in waste management. As industries collaborate to further scale and refine this technology, the vision of a closed-loop packaging system grows more tangible.
As Margarita Trombetti aptly puts it, "The more stakeholders come on board, the closer we get to making circularity a reality for packaging."
Source: "HolyGrail from 2.0 to 2030" – Packaging Europe, YouTube, Jan 1, 1970 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVGeGSvfv9A
