It’s well known that packaging recyclability can be complex because each country has its own set of requirements for determining:
This creates a daunting task for brand owners (whether as teams or individuals), who must ensure their packaging aligns with all target markets’ requirements while managing complex regulations from multiple regulatory bodies.
Navigating the path to sustainable packaging is riddled with complexities, including the varied demands of regulatory authorities, ever-changing guidelines, and free online tools with limited capabilities, offering only a single, one-sided methodology.
Brand owners are increasingly tasked with enhancing recyclability and ensuring transparency for their customers. Given the diverse sustainable packaging management options available, many are seeking a centralised, user-friendly, and customisable tool to assess the recyclability of their packaging across different regions. They also value if such a tool empowers them to actively engage in the analysis process, allowing them to identify areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions, rather than simply receiving a set of results without insight into the evaluation.
Brand owners are also responsible for compiling detailed reports on the recyclability (or other sustainability criteria) of their packaging. Aggregating the data for the entire portfolio while simultaneously calculating recyclability results for each individual pack can be a difficult and time-consuming task.
In addition, many brand owners struggle to keep up with regulation changes, such as those under the proposed PPWR, leading to uncertainty in forecasting and planning. Investments in sustainable packaging can be costly, and the ambiguity around future regulations makes it a struggle for companies to allocate resources wisely.
Another source of frustration is internal communication and knowledge-sharing around sustainability topics. Packaging and sustainability teams often find it difficult to convince other stakeholders of the need for action. In addition, the decentralised way in which information is shared can hinder progress—each department may have its own area of focus, leading to a fragmented approach to eco-modulation, EPR fee reporting, and packaging development.
Finally, the process of gathering recyclability data can be extremely tedious. Brand owners must often request data from external suppliers or manually enter information into multiple systems. Adding to this, packaging data is often scattered across multiple systems—Excel sheets, SAP platforms, PLM tools, or a combination of these. This often makes the process cumbersome and inefficient, as well as increases the risk of inaccurate and inconsistent results.
Recyda offers a platform that directly addresses the pain points outlined above. To demonstrate how our platform works, we’ll focus on the two core types of assessments our software provides.
Recyda’s software can be used to perform a detailed analysis of specific packaging. This process starts with entering the packaging specifications into the software. For instance, let’s consider a shampoo bottle being sold in multiple markets. The company would first input all relevant details about the packaging, including its components, material layers and more.
Once the packaging data is entered, the software compares this information with the country-specific guidelines for each market. This generates a detailed report showing how the packaging performs in terms of recyclability for all the target countries.
With the report generated, brand owners can determine whether their packaging meets recyclability standards in each market, and what the implications are for EPR fees. The software also provides country-specific results, as the regulations can vary significantly between regions.
A major advantage of our software is the transparency it offers. At this stage, users can see why their packaging received certain ratings, providing them with the opportunity to optimise packaging.
By comparing different alternatives, companies can select the most sustainable option for their packaging, which is especially valuable in packaging research and development (R&D).
Our clients like DMK Group appreciate the clarity that our intuitive solution provides. When prompted to elaborate further on the topic, they added, “the idea of the Recyda team to develop a web-based solution to map all EU-wide recycling requirements is very nicely implemented and the tool helps us to clarify the requirements for future recyclable packaging solutions.”
For companies managing large packaging portfolios—often numbering in the hundreds or even thousands—manually assessing each packaging would be an enormous task. Our intuitive software simplifies this process through portfolio analysis, allowing companies to assess their entire packaging lineup at scale.
The software integrates seamlessly with existing ERP systems like SAP, enabling users to import packaging data. Once the data is uploaded, companies can assess their portfolio’s recyclability across all relevant national guidelines, and even add sales volumes to understand the overall impact of their packaging choices.
Key metrics such as the use of recycled content and overall recyclability percentages can be tracked across the portfolio, providing a clear, actionable view of the company’s sustainability performance.
Take for instance a situation where a company needs to analyse their entire packaging portfolio against up to 10 different European guidelines. Whether a high-level overview is required (e.g., “What is my EPR liability in France?” or “What percentage of my portfolio is recyclable?”), or a more detailed analysis of specific packaging, our software is able to do both efficiently.
Our team also supports companies with a data gap analysis, helping to identify what additional data would improve the accuracy of the assessment. Even if all the necessary data is not available, the software generates preliminary results and highlights areas where missing data could impact the final outcome.
If as a brand owner you identify with any of the pain points we have mentioned and struggle with the immense pressure of meeting your sustainability goals, including achieving up to 100% recyclability across all product packaging and significantly reducing plastic usage - do get in touch with us.
Our time-efficient and user-friendly software solution enables you to meet your sustainable KPIs by helping you stay compliant with evolving regulations and improving the sustainability of your packaging portfolio.
In addition, our intuitive, centralised, and customisable software empowers brand owners by giving them full agency to evaluate their packaging’s recyclability potential across various regions, while also helping them to efficiently execute their responsibilities.
As noted by Kao, a major user of Recyda’s software: “The platform provides an easy-to-use and individualised tool that allows us to closely analyse the recyclability potential of our packaging across different regions and helps us identify areas for improvement in an extremely complex environment.”