Polytag Invisible UV Tags and Smart QR for EPR Data

Polytag is a packaging data company founded in 2018 and registered in Deeside, Wales, UK. It helps brands and retailers prove what happens to their packaging after sale, a growing need as extended producer responsibility (EPR) fees and recycled content rules depend on evidence of collection and recycling.

One label carries two technologies. A Smart QR Code based on GS1 Digital Link lets shoppers reach brand content, rewards and recycling guidance that can be changed without reprinting. An invisible UV tag printed into the artwork is read by detection units retrofitted to sorting lines, logging each verified recycling event. Scans and detections feed one dashboard with verifiable data on the quantity and type of material collected and recycled, ready for EPR reporting, plus use cases such as digital deposit return, product authentication and digital product passports. Customers include UK retailers, beverage and dairy brands, and recycling partners.

• Invisible UV tags: GS1 data matrices printed into packaging artwork and read on recycling lines.
• Detection units: retrofitted to sorting facilities to log verified recycling events.
• Smart QR codes: GS1 Digital Link pages with editable content, rewards and recycling guidance.
• EPR data dashboard: quantity and type of material collected and recycled, ready for EPR reporting.
• Digital deposit return: scan-to-recycle rewards without physical reverse vending machines.
• Authentication and product passports: supply chain information and digital product passport use cases.

Beverage and dairy brands in Vietnam can print UV tags and QR codes on bottles to evidence recycling for EPR reporting. Retail chains can run scan-to-recycle loyalty campaigns. Food and consumer goods exporters to Europe can use the same codes as a base for digital product passports.

Producers get pack-level evidence of recycling instead of estimates, which Polytag says can help reduce fees for placing packaging on the market under modulated EPR schemes. In Citeo's trial at a French sorting centre, 100% of tagged bottles were traced. The same label supports consumer engagement, with an average dwell time of more than 30 seconds per scan. In Ocado's digital deposit return trial, 87% of people who scanned a pack went on to recycle it.

EPR schemes in the UK, the EU under PPWR and California under SB54 are moving towards fees modulated by recyclability and evidence. Vietnam's EPR regime already sets mandatory recycling rates for packaging, and exporters to the EU must prepare for digital product passports, increasing demand for traceable, pack-level recycling data.

Polytag Limited was founded in 2018 and is registered in England and Wales (No. 11188703) with its office in Deeside, Flintshire. It is GS1 approved and holds ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certification. Its UV tag was named in TIME's Best Inventions of 2026. Partners include Biffa, Citeo and Pellenc ST.