Digimarc Accelerates the Global Fight Against Plastic Pollution
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Insights
The introduction of Digimarc Recycle's digital watermarking technology for plastic packaging is a significant step forward in addressing the inefficiencies of the current recycling system. By enabling more precise sorting of plastics, this technology could potentially reduce the economic costs associated with plastic pollution. The current low recycling rates in the U.S. contribute to the depletion of natural resources used to produce virgin plastics and impose externalities such as environmental degradation and public health impacts. Improved sorting technology can increase the supply of high-quality recycled plastics, potentially lowering the price differential between recycled and virgin plastics and incentivizing their use in production.
Furthermore, the implementation of Digimarc Recycle aligns with the principles of extended producer responsibility (EPR), which holds producers accountable for the end-of-life impact of their products. By improving the quality of recycled plastics, EPR schemes become more feasible, as they rely on the availability of materials suitable for reuse in new products. This could lead to a shift in producer behavior, further reducing the reliance on virgin materials and promoting sustainable production practices.
Digimarc Recycle's technology has the potential to disrupt the plastic recycling industry by enhancing the accuracy and efficiency of sorting processes. Traditional optical sorting systems have limitations in identifying the complex compositions of plastics, which often results in contamination of recyclable materials and reduces the overall quality of the recyclate. By providing detailed information about the plastic's grade and composition, Digimarc's solution could significantly increase the proportion of plastics that are recycled into high-value applications, rather than downcycled or sent to landfills.
The affordable licensing cost of less than $1 per capita per year makes this technology accessible to a broad range of stakeholders within the recycling ecosystem. This cost-effective solution is crucial for scaling up the technology and achieving widespread adoption. The potential environmental benefits are substantial, including the reduction of plastic waste and the conservation of resources through the promotion of a circular economy. The success of Digimarc Recycle will largely depend on the adoption rate among recyclers and the willingness of producers to integrate recycled plastics into their supply chains.
The availability of Digimarc Recycle could have a transformative impact on the market for recycled plastics, which is often characterized by an imbalance between supply and demand. On the supply side, the enhanced sorting capability can generate a more consistent and higher quality product that meets the specifications demanded by manufacturers. This could lead to an expansion of the market for recycled plastics, as more industries find it feasible to replace virgin materials with recyclates.
On the demand side, consumer preferences are increasingly shifting towards sustainable products, which puts pressure on companies to demonstrate environmental responsibility. The ability to source high-quality recycled plastics can serve as a key differentiator in the market, potentially leading to increased brand loyalty and market share for early adopters. Moreover, as regulatory pressures mount, with governments around the world implementing stricter waste management policies, technologies like Digimarc Recycle may become not just advantageous but essential for companies seeking to comply with new regulations and avoid potential penalties.
Digimarc Recycle is Now Widely Available and Easily Accessible to Unlock Plastic Circularity Worldwide
Digimarc accelerates the global fight against plastic pollution. Digimarc Recycle is now widely available and easily accessible to unlock plastic circularity worldwide -- available for license by qualified partners for less than
“After another year plagued with a lot of talk but little action in the fight to end plastic pollution, we are expanding our reach across stakeholders and geographies to encourage partners in
The Plastic Recycling Outlook
In
One of the main reasons the world struggles to recycle plastic is due to the number of plastic variants that are created by industry and the limits of the optical sorting technology that exists at recycling facilities. Plastic packaging spans a huge range of types – from food- or skin-contact-grade to industrial-use plastics – and often contains multiple materials and layers, further compounding the challenges of sorting today. Current sorting technology can only identify, at a high level, some of the materials in each item, but it cannot identify the grade or complex composition of much of the material it works to sort. This means that it cannot sort based on specifications that would allow plastics to retain the value required to become truly circular – for example, determining if a plastic is food-grade. This disincentivizes producers to purchase and use recycled plastic as they are unable to acquire the plastic varieties and specifications they need.
Digimarc Recycle changes this dynamic by linking covert digital watermarks applied to plastic packaging to product information, including packaging composition, food or non-food grade plastic, product variant, brand, SKU, and more. Deploying digital watermarking, instead of solely relying on optical sortation, helps to create the variety, volume, and quality of recycled plastics needed for a viable circular economy to flourish. Roland Berger highlights Digimarc’s technology, digital watermarks, as a sorting technology that can “substantially improve the yield and quality of recyclates” – calling recyclates the “new gold.”4
Digimarc Recycle powers precise granular sortation of plastics, thereby increasing the opportunity for producers to purchase and repurpose higher quality recycled plastic that can compete on a level playing field with virgin materials. Digimarc’s digital watermarking technology makes this possible by identifying plastic packaging deterministically to any desired level of granularity including brand, SKU, SKU-variant, batch/lot, or even serialized item, none of which can be accomplished with current optical sorting technology or other proposed next-generation technologies. The application of Digimarc Recycle helps disincentivize the continued use of virgin plastics by producers and makes extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes a more viable option to tackle the growing problem of plastic pollution.
“If we want producers to buy recyclate instead of continuing to use virgin plastic, we must improve the quality of plastic output at today’s recycling facilities and offer a real opportunity for closed-loop recycling. This is where Digimarc can help,” said McCormack. “Digital watermarking is a powerful, proven, and incredibly affordable solution to the plastic pollution crisis, and it is available today. We can talk about potential solutions, or we can commit to action. Our offer to license our groundbreaking technology to partners around the world underscores our belief that the time to act is now.”
Learn more about Digimarc Recycle at Digimarc.com or contact us at product@digimarc.com.
About Digimarc
Digimarc Corporation (NASDAQ: DMRC) is the pioneer and global leader in digital watermarking technologies. For nearly 30 years, Digimarc innovations and intellectual property in digital watermarking have been deployed at massive scale for the identification and the authentication of physical and digital items. A notable example of this is our partnership with a consortium of the world’s central banks to deter counterfeiting of global currency. Digimarc is also instrumental in supporting global industry standards efforts spanning both the physical and digital worlds. In 2023, Digimarc was named to the Fortune 2023 Change the World list and honored as a 2023 Fast Company World Changing Ideas finalist. Learn more at Digimarc.com.
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Plastics: Material-specific data | US EPA. (n.d.). |
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Sullivan, L. (2022, October 24). Recycling plastic is practically impossible - and the problem is getting worse. NPR |
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Budryk, Z. (2022) US only recycled 5 percent of plastic waste in 2021: Greenpeace report, The Hill. |
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Herweg, 0., Popa, D. (2023, March 15). Plastic Recyclates create new business opportunities for sector. Roland Berger |
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Media Contacts:
Susan Baldwin
Digimarc Corporation
509-939-1137
PR@digimarc.com
Anneka Kumli
Grove Partners
720-422-5258
anneka@thegrovepartners.com
Source: Digimarc Corporation
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