First Annual General Meeting: Starting signal for the R-Cycle Community
R-Cycle enters a new phase as an open community. The first official general meeting was held on May 3, 2022 at the corporate site of R-Cycle member Multivac in Wolfertschwenden (Germany).
R-Cycle was founded in 2020 as an initiative of various technology companies and organizations along the entire life cycle of plastic packaging with the aim of establishing a digital traceability standard in the market by means of digital product passports for plastic packaging. This prepares the technical basis for more accurate waste sorting and higher quality recycling to drive an effective circular economy.
Dr. Benedikt Brenken, Director of the R-Cycle Community, explains: "After the development and testing of the technical infrastructure was successfully completed in spring 2022, the rollout is now taking place. R-Cycle is now accessible as an open community for all companies, institutions and stakeholders that have a legitimate interest in the field of circular economy for plastic packaging and want to use, support or further develop R-Cycle themselves."
Right at the start of the community, the circle grew by 6 additional companies to a total of 19 members. The community offers access to a broad network of application-experienced partners and know-how in matters of digitization and sustainability. In addition to the general meeting at management level, the exchange takes place via specialized working groups that deal specifically with the various application areas of digital product passports. The R-Cycle platform can be networked with all common software systems as well as a wide variety of types of production equipment - from film or injection molding machines to processing, printing and filling machines to waste sorting and recycling systems. The traceability technology behind R-Cycle is based on GS1 standards - the leading global network for cross-industry process development and a founding member of R-Cycle.
By providing a digital product passport, all recycling-relevant data is automatically recorded during the production of plastic packaging and made retrievable via suitable markings (e.g. digital watermarks or QR codes) on intermediate and end products. This allows waste sorting facilities to accurately identify packaging and form recycling-friendly and single-variety fractions. In addition to improving product sustainability, manufacturers and processors of plastic packaging also benefit in terms of process efficiency, quality and compliance with statutory information requirements.
Guido Spix, Managing Director at MULTIVAC, says: "We had a lively discussion about the strategic goals of R-Cycle during several presentations and a high-level roundtable. Digital product passports offer enormous potential for an efficient circular economy of plastic packaging. Among other things, they enable data-optimized production processes as well as data-based and thus more precise waste sorting in order to recover higher-value recyclates. We look forward to the next steps!"
Dr. Brenken adds: "R-Cycle is not a concept, but a proven solution that we are now bringing to market together from our strong community. The first general meeting has already shown how much innovative spirit our members bring to the table to leverage the potential of digital product passports for plastic products as part of an efficient circular economy."
Interested companies can obtain all membership information at:
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"If you want to contribute to a true circular economy while reaping the many benefits of R-Cycle, we'd love to hear from you. Contact us now to contribute your ideas, know-how or technology."
Dr. Benedikt Brenken - Direktor R-Cycle
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