New Recycling Tech in Canada

The Digimarc Corporation, a global leader in product digitization, recently partnered with the Circular Plastic Taskforce, which strives to build a circular economy for post-consumer plastics in Canada. At iSustain we love to see new developing technologies aimed at improving recycling rates created by our neighbors to the north!

Digimarc’s partnership is creating industrial recycling solutions.

The partnership is currently testing a process called Digimarc Recycle, which sorts flexible plastic packaging to create industrial recycling solutions. The Circular Plastic Taskforce hopes that recycling processes like Digimarc Recycle will support plastic packaging recycling within Quebec and Canada’s extended producer responsibility fields.

What’s unique about Digimarc Recycle sortation technology?

Digimarc Recycle goes beyond just organization. When creating the packaging, digital watermarks are applied. Customers won’t notice the watermarks, but specialized sorting equipment will. When those cameras scan the watermarks, they are connected to a cloud-based database. That database recognizes the product, manufacturer, if it has been used prior, and if there are any unrecyclable factors to consider. 

“Today’s sortation equipment cannot distinguish between mono-material recyclable packaging and multi-material structures, therefore lowering bale quality. We believe Digimarc Recycle can help solve this challenge.” – Circular Plastics Taskforce Steering Committee.

New industrial recycling solutions are a global effort.

Protecting the environment and achieving true circularity is an effort that’s only possible with help from around the world, not just here in the United States. It’s exciting and empowering to see good work being done by good people in other countries, and waste stream management like ours at iSustain does wonders to limit businesses’ environmental footprints. Congratulations to the Circular Plastic Taskforce and Digimarc Corporation for their partnership and the creation of Digimarc Recycle. We look forward to what you think of next!