NFC-Enabled Recycling Programs

The challenge is enormous

Many items that can be recycled simply end up in the wrong place as a result of improper sorting but the SPRITE recycling scheme has the potential to make sure more materials end up in the right place. Thanks to NFC labels that uniquely identify packaging, NFC-enabled digital identification technology has the potential to be used to encourage people to properly recycle their plastics.

SPRITE (sustainable plastics recycling innovation by tagging electronically) is supported by the UK government’s Sustainable Innovation Fund and there are great implications for this technology. According to UK-based flexible electronics provider PragmatIC, "Under SPRITE, PragmatIC will deliver a system that… uses ultra-low-cost NFC to uniquely identify fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) packaging so that consumers can collect rewards anywhere using a network of smart recycling points."