POLYTAG
Pioneering recycling tech company and connected packaging solutions provider, with a big aim to end single-use packaging.
WHY
Many issues have created the climate crisis we face today - It is a multifaceted problem without a single solution. Polytag tackles one of these problems - single-use packaging - with a multipurpose solution to reduce, reuse, and recycle by unlocking new insights on packaging lifecycles and tools to optimize and incentivize recycling. Utilizing two different tag solutions - a GS1-approved digital link QR code, and an Invisible UV grid of data matrix - Polytag can trace packaging from the point of manufacture through to the point of disposal and into recycling centers. Delivering brands, recycling operators, and consumers proof of how and where packaging is managed at the end of life, all at barcode level. Hyper-relevant content, hyper-relevant data to power sustainability strategy that makes a meaningful impact on solving one aspect of the climate crisis.
Alice Rackley
PROFILE
Polytag is a proud Welsh business based in Deeside, North Wales – the land of dragons. The team is motivated by the business's impact focus and is fully committed to improving recycling rates for single-use packaging.
Co-founded in 2018 by Phil Sutton and Brendan O’Neill, who have vast experience in developing businesses to manage problematic waste streams, Polytag holds a strong IP position, with patents granted in the UK in October 2023 and pending grants across many other geographies.
Alice Rackley, the CEO, joined in 2021 and has been the driving force behind designing and building the cutting-edge platform solution that powers the Polytag ecosystem. This platform connects many stakeholders in the packaging circular economy and creates multiple opportunities to improve recycling, track reusables, and optimize supply chains towards circularity.
Under Alice’s leadership, Polytag has partnered with major brands and retailers including Ocado Retail, Co-op, Aldi, One Water, and more to transform packaging from a “cost centre to a value driver” and make step-change progress towards higher recycling rates. She predicts that every business selling products in single-use plastic “will need a Polytag subscription before 2027.”
