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Recycling

Circular Economy

Businesses are now making transformational change, shifting towards service- and value-based business models that better utilise our planet’s valuable resources and materials.

This transition requires digital innovation to build circular systems that scale across the value chain, to ensure economic viability, operational efficiency and environmental impact.

At Pragmatic, we focus on creating inspiring ways to reduce, reuse and recycle products and materials. Creating new capabilities, by making objects connected & intelligent:

Transitioning to smart reusable packaging

Did you know 40.5% of plastic production in Europe is solely destined for plastic packaging? Find out how our unique flexible integrated circuit technology can help manufacturers make reusable packaging at scale a reality.

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FMCG

Track and Trace across logistics and supply chains

As distribution operations become increasingly complex, real-time, item-level visibility becomes ever more important. From picking and packing to transport and delivery, the ability to monitor the location and status of goods is essential for transparency and efficiency. Find out how we are revolutionising track and trace.

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Creating a more circular economy

We want to make a positive contribution to ensuring that our planet’s valuable resources are kept in circulation for as long as possible. The transition to a circular economy requires systems to be traceable, leveraging digital technologies and using detailed data analytics. Our technology creates new capabilities in the circular economy by making individual items connected and intelligent. We are excited to enable multiple applications to provide effective mechanisms for recycling and reuse, which consumers can engage with wherever and whenever.

Our technology can be applied to packaging and detected by smart bins when returned at-home or on-the-go, complementing Deposit Return Schemes (DRSs), to improve recycling outcomes. We also enable cutting-edge re-use and re-fill models, both vital for the circular economy.

And it doesn’t stop there – by improving the quality of the recyclate from material recovery facilities, we will ensure more packaging can be returned back to its original purpose rather than being down-cycled, used for energy-to-waste or landfilled. We are also proud that our technology is being used to enable tracking of goods to ensure that they are sent to the recovery facilities, ensuring that illegal tipping is reduced.

Circular Economy

Enabling more traceability

Item-level traceability is not only valuable during the useful life of a product, but also at end-of-life. Being able to uniquely identify individual items of waste allows dramatically improved recycling outcomes. Use cases include waste sorting, smart bins, deposit return schemes, regulatory compliance, and real-time reporting to support improved infrastructure planning. For example, we are working with waste data aggregation and analytics firm Topolytics on a DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) project to deliver the UK’s first comprehensive digital waste tracking solution.

Our RFID Flexible IC devices enable mass-market item-level track and trace, ensuring supply chain efficiency, inventory accuracy, authenticity and anti-counterfeit, grey market prevention, retail loss prevention and many more applications.

By adding item level unique IDs, it is possible to activate multiple touchpoints that link to positive outcomes, reducing waste and unnecessary product miles.

Creating more sustainable consumption

Food poverty is a major global problem, and by reducing our own waste we can contribute the maximum to helping others. To do this we need to monitor and protect food, from farm to fork. Our technology is being used to verify and authenticate cold chains, combined with novel sensors. As well as improving resource utilisation, this also promotes consumer awareness of provenance and animal welfare. And by removing the need for destructive in-line testing and conservative use-by dates, we can assure consumers that their food is safe while simultaneously reducing the packaging and food miles associated with products that would otherwise be discarded.

Sustainable

£2.4 million project to develop sustainable manufacturing technologies

Accelerating innovation in smart sustainable manufacturing technologies

Read press release

1/3 of all food produced globally is lost. How can RFID reduce this?

Discover how RFID technology can help with our insight piece

Read RFID insight

Our ESG commitments

We strive to ensure everything we do will preserve and protect our environment, care and include our people, and be fair and trusted as an organisation.

Find out more on ESG

Creating a more sustainable future

We are proud to be involved in a range of circular economy projects leveraging our cutting-edge flexible electronics.

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How can smart reusable packaging be implemented at scale?

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Videos

RFID
Introduction to RFID
RFID has the potential to revolutionise authorisation and stock control in supply chains, but what exactly is it and how can this technology be leveraged to bring intelligence and interactivity to everyday objects? Alastair Hanlon, Chief Commercial Officer at Pragmatic explains.
Reuse
Making reuse a reality
Pragmatic’s unique flexible integrated circuits can be leveraged to enable smart reusable packaging schemes at scale. Integrating digital IDs into mass market products opens up new capabilities, keeping valuable resources in circulation for as long as possible.
TRACE
The next generation of sustainable flexible electronics
Pragmatic’s unique flexible integrated circuits can be leveraged to enable smart reusable packaging schemes at scale. Integrating digital IDs into mass market products opens up a series of new capabilities.

Want to learn more about circular economy solutions?