For years, food and drink manufacturers have measured packaging performance through familiar metrics such as weight reduction, recycled content and recyclability. Increasingly, however, the next competitive advantage may lie in understanding what happens to packaging after it leaves the factory.

A new collaboration between Aldi, Arla Foods UK and recycling technology company Polytag suggests the industry is moving towards a future where packaging itself becomes a source of verified data, helping manufacturers make better-informed decisions about design, sustainability and compliance.

An eight-week pilot uses invisible UV tags printed on the wrap-around labels of Arla milk bottles to track packaging through the recycling system. Aldi, Arla, and Polytag are collaborating on an operational pilot to track milk bottle packaging through the recycling process using innovative UV-tagging technology to get a better understanding of the product lifecycle.

Developed using specially formulated fluorescent ink from Sun Chemical and printed by Saica Flex, the labels are detected at materials recovery facilities (MRFs) by Polytag’s Plastic Detection Units, providing brands with real-time insight into how their packaging moves through the recycling process.

Moving beyond assumptions

Many organisations currently rely on modelling, estimates and national recycling statistics to assess packaging performance. Although these approaches provide useful indicators, they often lack the granularity needed to understand how individual products perform once they enter the waste stream.

The ability to capture verified recycling data at product level represents an important shift.

Rather than asking whether packaging is theoretically recyclable, manufacturers can begin to understand whether it is actually being recovered, where it is being recovered and how consistently recycling systems are performing.

That information has the potential to influence everything from packaging design and material selection to supplier relationships and sustainability reporting.

Data becomes a competitive advantage

As manufacturing becomes increasingly data-driven, packaging is emerging as another valuable source of operational intelligence.

For manufacturers investing heavily in automation, digital quality systems and connected production, extending data collection beyond the factory gate represents the next logical step.

Packaging traceability offers the opportunity to connect manufacturing decisions with real-world outcomes, enabling businesses to assess whether changes to label construction, materials or formats genuinely improve recyclability.

This type of verified information could also strengthen internal decision-making, replacing assumptions with measurable evidence.

Luke Emery, plastics and packaging director at Aldi UK, described the project as “an exciting step forward in how we use data to drive our sustainability strategy”, highlighting the growing importance of packaging intelligence alongside more traditional environmental metrics.

Preparing for a changing regulatory landscape

The timing of the project also reflects wider regulatory pressures.

With Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) reforms placing greater emphasis on packaging accountability, manufacturers are under increasing pressure to demonstrate not only that packaging has been designed responsibly, but also how effectively it performs within the recycling system.

Technologies capable of generating verified recycling data may therefore become increasingly valuable as reporting requirements evolve.

Rather than treating compliance as a retrospective exercise, manufacturers could use real-world recycling information to improve packaging design before products reach the market.

This approach also supports broader circular economy ambitions by identifying opportunities to increase recovery rates and reduce material loss.

Collaboration across the value chain

Another notable aspect of the project is the number of organisations involved.

Alongside Aldi and Arla, the pilot brings together Polytag, Sun Chemical and Saica Flex, illustrating how packaging innovation increasingly depends on collaboration between retailers, manufacturers, material suppliers, printers and technology providers.

The fluorescent ink has been designed to integrate into conventional printing processes without affecting production speeds, while undergoing testing to confirm compatibility with established recycling systems.

That focus on practical implementation is likely to be welcomed by manufacturers seeking solutions that can be incorporated into existing operations without significant capital investment.

From packaging to intelligence

Polytag recently demonstrated a 100% detection rate in collaboration with packaging compliance organisation Citeo at one of Europe’s busiest materials recovery facilities, underlining the maturity of the underlying technology.

For food and drink manufacturers, however, the real significance extends beyond the technology itself.

Packaging is beginning to generate the data needed to improve sustainability performance, inform packaging strategy and support future compliance requirements.

As digital technologies continue to reshape manufacturing, the organisations best placed to respond may be those that view packaging as a source of intelligence.

The Aldi, Arla and Polytag collaboration offers an early glimpse of that future, where every package has the potential to tell manufacturers not only where it has been, but how effectively it contributes to a more circular food system.