Smart reusable packaging
Low-cost intelligence for reusable packaging
Packaging waste poses a serious threat to our environment, with much of our plastic, paper, tin and glass taken to landfill sites, where it takes hundreds of years to decompose.
As concern mounts around the environmental impact of packaging, the pressure is on for manufacturers to move to reusable models. But due to cost, smart reusable packaging has typically been reserved for high-value items.
Pragmatic’s solution – based on RFID tags enabled with flexible integrated circuits (FlexICs) – provides granular, asset-level data at a fraction of the cost of traditional solutions, and a compelling opportunity to make reusable packaging at scale a reality.
40%
of plastic production in Europe is solely destined for plastic packaging1
178kg
of estimated packaging waste per inhabitant in the EU in 20202
>20%
of single use plastic packaging could be replaced with a reusable alternative3
1.8bn
tonnes of carbon emissions from plastic production, use and disposal in 20191
A digitalised circular economy of the future
With a carbon impact of <0.5gCO2 equivalent, each FlexIC typically increases the environmental impact of returnable items, such as smart coffee cups, by less than one per cent. This short animation demonstrates how FlexICs enable valuable insights and full traceability throughout the return cycle
Enabling circular systems
Adding intelligence to packaging at scale has, until now, proved prohibitive for all but high-value items, due to high unit cost.
Download our Application Spotlight to discover how low-cost FlexIC technology can underpin net-positive circular systems, providing asset-level data and high levels of automation and system scalability.
Ultra-low-cost NFC enables reusable packaging to be digitally identifiable across its entire lifecycle
1 OECD Global Plastics Outlook Database
2 Eurostat
3 Ellen Macarthur Foundation/New Plastics Economy