Supported by partnerships with industry leaders in consumer
packaging and recycling
BEAVERTON, Oregon, Sept. 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Digimarc
Corporation (NASDAQ: DMRC) announced today that the Digimarc
Platform has been chosen as the principal technology of the
cross-value chain initiative "HolyGrail 2.0" to improve sortation
and higher-quality recycling rates for packaging in the European
Union (EU). The industry-led initiative is facilitated by AIM
(Association des Industries de Marque), the European Brands
Association, with its more than 2,500 member organizations.
Digimarc was the technology ultimately chosen at the conclusion
of the highly publicized HolyGrail 1.0 initiative under the Ellen
MacArthur Foundation's New Plastics Economy, which included 29
corporations and was led by Procter & Gamble. Now, under
HolyGrail 2.0, the Leadership Team includes world-leading brands
P&G, Nestle, PepsiCo and Danone. Over 85 cross-industry
companies and organizations have signed to be active participants
in the next stages of pilots and industrial-scale demonstrations
towards commercialization.
"The launch of this critical cross-value chain initiative serves
as validation that Digimarc is a vital piece of the puzzle to solve
the world's plastic waste problem. We look forward to the next
stage of development working with consumer brands and retailers,
equipment manufacturers and suppliers, and industry trade
organizations to engage the full supply chain to advance the
circular economy in the EU and beyond," said Bruce Davis, Chairman and CEO of Digimarc.
"Based on our discoveries and success in the HolyGrail 1.0
initiative, Procter & Gamble is proud to launch the first
commercial products that integrate Digimarc's technology with a
focus primarily on improved detection in waste facilities and to
help us meet our sustainability goals," said Gian De Belder, Technical Director, Packaging
Sustainability, P&G. "We look forward to the further evolution
of the technology as we continue to introduce a wider range of
watermark-based packaging into the marketplace. It is great to see
the potential that intelligent packaging brings, as well as the
role that digital watermarking technology can play in the fields of
innovation, sustainability and digital connectivity – all areas
highlighted in the European Green Deal."
Improving Plastic Sortation
Advancing recycling
sorting with digital watermarks would be delivered to recycling
facilities through existing sortation equipment manufacturers.
Digimarc has delivered its advanced technology components to TOMRA
Sorting Solutions and Pellenc ST, the world's two leading sortation
equipment manufacturers, with an estimated 80 percent global market
share.
"Our work with Digimarc in the HolyGrail 1.0 demos and trials
demonstrated the viability of the technology and the benefits this
could mean to our customers. We look forward to continuing our work
with Digimarc in HolyGrail 2.0 towards bringing to market the
enormous potential of the technology for recycling sortation," said
Oliver Lambertz, Vice President and
Head of Business Development, TOMRA.
"Pellenc ST is convinced that marker technology is an
interesting opportunity to sort food packaging from non-food
applications. Our cooperation with Digimarc to assess the potential
of the technical solution in sorting plant conditions is a unique
chance to accelerate the potential market penetration," said
Antoine Bourley, co-founder and R&D Manager, Pellenc. "We
clearly see a potential solution to further improve plastic
recycling quality."
Supports Sustainability and Circular Economy Programs of
Leading Brands and Retailers
Industry projections show a
significant shortfall by 2025 of post-consumer recyclate needed by
manufacturers to meet pubic pledges and increasingly-stringent
government regulation. Improved sortation, such as the detection of
food versus non-food prior use of the package, better ensures
manufacturers will be able to meet such demand. A further benefit
to the adoption of Digimarc is the potential for eco-modulation
(reduction) of Extended Producer Responsibility fees paid by
manufacturers for the costs they impose on society through their
products in the marketplace and subsequent waste recovery.
"We are excited to integrate Digimarc Barcode in our product
packaging hitting shelves soon in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Czech
Republic and Finland.
Sustainability is a key foundation element of Orkla and we are
eager to offer packaging that can be more accurately identified and
sorted to support the circular economy," said Pavel Komůrka,
Packaging Innovation – Sustainability Coordinator, Orkla Group
Procurement, Orkla ASA.
Expanding Industry Service Provider Partners
Beyond
consumer brands and equipment manufacturers, Digimarc is actively
expanding the universe of Digimarc-trained suppliers to the
industry, including mold makers, printers and packaging converters.
Product manufacturers will be able to continue working with their
existing suppliers, with minimal imposition to existing
workflows.
"We are working closely with Digimarc to deliver the first
enhanced thermoform plastic trays using the company's latest
advancements. The results are outstanding, regardless of the color
of the plastic product or if the material is virgin or already from
a recycling stream. Most impressive is the detection of food versus
non-food prior use of the material, a game-changer in terms of
impact to the recycling industry," said Nicolas Lorenz, Chief Commercial Officer,
PACCOR, a leading European packaging producer.
"We are pleased to provide Digimarc Barcode enhancements to our
customers, allowing us to make their IML packaging intelligent by
means of Interactive IML labels," said Nico
Van de Walle, Product & Circular Economy Manager,
Verstraete IML (in-mould labeling). "Their focus today is mainly on
sustainability, and Digimarc technology can help them contribute to
the circular economy and meet their sustainability goals."
"We are excited about the potential impact Digimarc could have
on recycling. One of the greatest issues affecting recycling today
is contamination. By incorporating Digimarc into product graphics,
brand owners can potentially link consumers to information on
package recyclability – giving consumers a better understanding of
what they should place in a recycling bin," said Robert Flores, Vice President, Sustainability,
Berry Global, a Fortune 500 manufacturer of plastic packaging
products.
Developing Programs in Recycling and Circular
Economy
Digimarc is working in program development stages
for two country-wide programs in Europe that will demonstrate enhancement of
objects for recycling and detection, from consumer disposal on to
monitoring the recycling waste chain and outputs in
facilities. In addition, Digimarc is actively pursuing new
methodologies for creating identities in plastic objects, such as
through laser ablation, in which it is possible to serialize each
individual package. Another effort is the participation of
consumers for more significant collections of waste using their
smartphones, in which scanning a package would inform them of the
recyclability of that package based on the consumer's curbside
waste disposal service.
In addition to its work in AIM's HolyGrail 2.0 initiative,
Digimarc is a now Founding Activator of the U.S. Plastics Pact, a
collaborative led by The Recycling Partnership and World Wildlife
Fund (WWF), launched as part of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's
global Plastics Pact network. The U.S. Plastics Pact is an
ambitious initiative to unify diverse public-private stakeholders
across the plastics value chain to rethink the way we design, use,
and reuse plastics, to create a path toward a circular economy for
plastic in the United States.
As a trusted advisor and leader in the auto-identification of
objects for recycling, Digimarc has shared its expertise over the
past year through its membership in such organizations as the
Association for Plastics Recycling, Petcore Europe, Consumer Goods
Forum, Consumer Brands Association, Sustainable Packaging
Coalition, the European Plastics Pact, the U.S. Plastics Pact and
the Active and Intelligent Packaging Industry Association.
About Digimarc
Digimarc Corporation (NASDAQ: DMRC) is
a pioneer in the automatic identification of media, including
packaging, other commercial print, digital images, audio and video.
The Digimarc Platform provides innovative and comprehensive
automatic identification software and services to simplify search
and transform information discovery through unparalleled
reliability, efficiency and security. The Digimarc Platform enables
applications that benefit retailers and consumer brands, national
and state government agencies, media and entertainment industries,
and others. Digimarc is based in Beaverton, Oregon, with a growing supplier
network around the world. Visit digimarc.com and follow us
@digimarc to learn more about The Barcode of Everything®.
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