Polytag’s Ecotrace Programme has been selected for TIME’s Best Inventions of 2026 in the Reuse & Recycle category. It is one of 300 extraordinary innovations featured on the annual list, recognising work intended to help brands see what happens to packaging after it has been used.
The programme relies on invisible UV tags activated on packaging. Polytag equipment detects those tags when packaging passes through recycling facilities, capturing barcode-level proof that a tagged item reached a facility and recording where and when detection occurred. Polytag says the system operates using global open standards. The tags are invisible to the naked eye. For packaging manufacturers, printers, converters and ink suppliers, the technology offers a way to build traceability into packaging using specialist fluorescent UV inks and existing printing processes, without requiring a fundamental change to established production workflows.
Data beyond a single pack
Beyond a simple detection signal, the tags can carry information such as a pack’s plastic melt flow temperature, its converter or its food-grade status. Depending on what is encoded, the system can provide insight at pack-variant or batch level and across defined time periods.
That data is intended to give brands and retailers a clearer view of packaging performance after use and to inform decisions on packaging design, material selection and recyclability. Polytag also argues the evidence base can become more important as Extended Producer Responsibility increases accountability for packaging placed on the market, making traceability data potentially more relevant to how businesses evidence packaging performance and recycling outcomes.
Retail use and industry reaction
Ocado and Waitrose are using the technology, with UV-tagged packaging generating data at enabled recycling facilities. The programme spans packaging production, retail use and recycling detection, involving packaging producers, ink specialists, retailers and recycling operators across the packaging lifecycle, from design and printing through to sorting and recycling.
Debbie Waldron-Hoines, Consultant CEO at the Flexographic Industry Association, said Polytag’s inclusion in the TIME list showed the role innovation can play in tackling some of the packaging industry’s biggest challenges. For printers and converters, she said, technologies that connect packaging with data about what happens to it after use could open new opportunities to support brands in assessing packaging performance and informing future design decisions. She welcomed innovation that connects the print and packaging sector with wider conversations about recycling and circularity.
Alice Rackley, chief executive of Polytag, described the TIME recognition as an endorsement of work across the packaging value chain to make packaging lifecycles more visible. She said collaboration among producers, ink specialists, retailers and recycling operators helps bridge the gap between packaging design and what happens after use, turning better data into better decisions and supporting progress toward a more circular economy.