PIONEERING DIGITAL WATERMARKS FOR SMART PACKAGING RECYCLING IN
THE EU
Digital Watermarks Initiative HolyGrail 2.0.
Welcome to the cross-value chain initiative HolyGrail 2.0
Driven by AIM - European Brands Association and powered by the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, over 160 companies and organisations from the complete packaging value chain have joined forces for the Digital Watermarks Initiative HolyGrail 2.0 with the ambitious goal to assess whether a pioneering digital technology can enable better sorting and higher-quality recycling rates for packaging in the EU, driving a truly circular economy.
The objective of the initiative is to prove the viability of digital watermarking technologies for accurate sorting and the business case at large scale.
For any questions, additional information or press related enquiries, please directly contact digitalwatermarks@aim.be.
About
About HolyGrail 2.0
The Digital Watermarks Initiative HolyGrail 2.0 – driven by AIM - European Brands Association and powered by the Alliance to End Plastic Waste – is a pilot project with the objective to prove the technical viability of digital watermarks for accurate sorting of packaging waste as well as the economic viability of the business case at large scale.
Digital watermarks are imperceptible codes, the size of a postage stamp, covering the surface of a consumer goods packaging and carrying a wide range of attributes. The aim is that once the packaging has entered into a waste sorting facility, the digital watermark can be detected and decoded by a high resolution camera on the sorting line, which then – based on the transferred attributes (e.g. food vs. non-food) – is able to sort the packaging in corresponding streams. This would result in better and more accurate sorting streams, thus consequently in higher-quality recyclates benefiting the complete packaging value chain.
For more details on the initiative, please see the general HolyGrail 2.0 Presentation.
About HolyGrail 1.0
The digital watermarks project was part of the broader pioneering project HolyGrail 1.0, which, facilitated by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and bringing together different stakeholders from the packaging value chain, ran from 2016-2019.
Within this project, different initiatives in the field of improving post-consumer recycling by using chemical tracers and digital watermarks for better sorting were investigated. Digital watermarks were found to be the most promising technology within HolyGrail 1.0, gathering support among the large majority of stakeholders. The technology opens new possibilities for sorting that are currently not feasible with existing sorting technologies. Through the creation of smart packaging, it also has the potential to be used in other areas such as consumer engagement, supply chain visibility and retail operations. At the end of HolyGrail 1.0, a basic proof-of-concept for digital watermarks on packaging was established and demonstrated on a test sorting line during an Open House in May 2019.
The branded goods industry has stepped in to facilitate HolyGrail 2.0 as a cross-value chain initiative to assess how a pioneering digital technology can enable better sorting and higher-quality recycling rates in the EU, leading to a true circular economy.
About digital watermarks
HolyGrail 2.0 looks into coding the surface of packaging for consumer goods with imperceptible codes, so-called digital watermarks. These optical codes are the size of a postage stamp, applied directly within the packaging’s label artwork or embossed in the mould. They can carry a wide range of attributes such as manufacturer, Stock-Keeping Unit (SKU), type of plastics used and composition, food vs. non-food usage. As well as encoding a “digital recycling passport”, digital watermarks also have the potential to be used in other areas such as consumer engagement, supply chain visibility and retail operations.
HolyGrail 2.0 focuses on how digital watermarks can be used for improved sorting processes of post-consumer packaging waste. The aim is that once the packaging coded with digital watermarks has entered into a waste sorting facility, the digital watermark can be detected and decoded by a high resolution camera on the sorting line, which then – based on the transferred attributes – is able to sort the packaging in corresponding streams (e.g. food vs. non-food). This would result in better and more accurate sorting streams and consequently in higher-quality recyclates benefiting the complete packaging value chain.
Membership
Membership in HolyGrail 2.0 is open to all interested stakeholders from the packaging value chain. So far, 160+ companies and organisations have registered to HolyGrail 2.0.
If your company/organisation is interested in joining,
please have a look at our Membership Kit:
Full membership – open to branded goods manufacturers and retailers only / 20.000 EUR for 3rd project year (January 2023 – December 2023)
Associate membership – open to all stakeholders from the packaging value chain / 3.000 EUR for 3rd project year (January 2023 – December 2023)
HolyGrail 2.0 Charter – outlining the governance and membership structure, meeting and voting rules as well as the anti-trust statement
For further information: digitalwatermarks@aim.be
Full Members
