The digital watermarks Initiative HolyGrail 2.0, led by AIM, the European Brands Association, and supported by the Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW), has again demonstrated promising results in using digital watermarking to sort plastic packaging waste at scale, according to an announcement released earlier today.
Digital watermarks are postage stamp-sized codes printed on plastic packaging that carry information about the packaging material. They can be detected by high-resolution cameras on the sorting line, enabling extremely accurate sorting and increased recycling rates.
Recent trials at the Hündgen Entsorgung material recovery facility in Swisttal, Germany, demonstrated the efficiency of the technology. The facility, which processes 100,000 tonnes of waste annually from 3 million households, was equipped with detection prototypes and add-on modules co-developed by technology provider Digimarc and machine supplier Pellenc ST. These modules combined near-infrared (NIR) and digital watermark (DW) technology for enhanced sorting accuracy.
Conducted from August 19 to December 19, 2024, the trials displayed the technology's potential across various packaging types. They achieved an impressive average of nearly 56,000 detections per day, with a total of 5.66 million detections of nearly 6,000 unique SKUs. The detection efficiency consistently ranged between 87.9% and 93.8%.
