Procter & Gamble hosts workshop to discuss tracing in sorter lines

Procter & Gamble has demonstrated its active participation in the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s 'New Plastics Economy' initiative by holding a cross-industry workshop in Brussels to look at potential benefits of tracer based sorting in automatic sorting lines.

The workshop, held April 4, brought together stakeholders from across the plastic packaging value chain to discuss potential use cases for tracers/markers and compare competing tracer and watermark technologies. Representatives from brand owners, waste management companies, recyclers, packaging component and resin producers among others joined Procter & Gamble’s Principal Scientist for Packaging Development, Gian De Belder, at the Bluepoint Conference Centre.

Delegates provided updates on the latest developments in tracer/watermark sorting (finished tracer projects, active tracer/watermark projects, learnings from other industries), and participated in a debate on how tracer and watermark sorting can add value and how they can be introduced and standardised across the plastics industry to ensure uniform market take-up.