Transforming Packaging Sustainability With Optical AI

Using a photo to identify the inherent features of a package that result from the manufacturing process, Optical AI can create a digital ‘fingerprint’ for items – providing irrefutable identification and traceability for physical products, in the same way a fingerprint identifies a human. Image courtesy of Alitheon.

The onus is now on producers to incorporate more sustainable practices.

By Roei Ganzarski, CEO of Alitheon

Staggering amounts of packaging waste are increasing global calls to action to improve packaging sustainability. Packaging waste currently tops 82.2 million tons in the United States alone and 84.3 million tons in the European Union. To put those numbers in perspective, that’s a total amount equivalent to approximately 81 million cars. The EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), expected to be formally adopted in the coming months, aims to curb this issue and reduce packaging waste by 15% by 2040 in the EU while setting guidelines to improve rates of recycling and reuse.

The onus is now on producers to incorporate more sustainable practices to align with the EU’s protocols to reduce waste. Although the United States has yet to adopt a similar directive to the PPWR, sustainability is increasingly top of mind for American companies and consumers, with 78% of consumers saying it’s important to them.

As AI-based innovation continues to transform industries, packaging will be no exception. Optical AI in particular, has the potential to play a key role in advancing packaging reduction, recycling, and reuse goals as well as broader packaging sustainability initiatives worldwide.

Reducing Packaging Waste With Optical AI

Optical AI will play a critical role in helping phase out unnecessary packaging by offering an alternative way to identify and trace items. Using a photo to identify the inherent features of a package that result from the manufacturing process, Optical AI can create a digital ‘fingerprint’ for items – providing irrefutable identification and traceability for physical products, in the same way a fingerprint identifies a human.

This technological advancement has major implications for reducing packaging waste, as it eliminates the need to add the host of traditional identifiers like stickers, ink, plastic, labels, etc., that inevitably end up in landfills. How it works is simple; a producer can take an image of a package using an industrial camera on their production line, or even manually with a mobile phone, and optical AI software can convert the minute data from that image to a serialized identifier – no additive markers or proxies necessary. Later on, a retailer, shipper, consumer, or other stakeholder can take a picture to identify that same package and view its provenance, including origin and complete chain of custody.

Optical AI technology offers the immediate opportunity to move away from physical identifiers that contribute to pollution and unnecessary resource consumption. Removing the need for additive labeling can also enable a new iteration of packaging design that’s streamlined, as added space to incorporate tags, barcodes, and the like are no longer needed. Furthermore, optical AI is advanced enough today to identify packages that are significantly marked up or damaged. One can’t say the same about a sticker or label.

Improving Recyclability

Reducing the reliance on additive proxies like stickers and tags will also transform recycling efforts. Ironically, these identification markers in many cases render ‘recyclable’ items unrecyclable, due to the additive sticker itself, and its adhesives. They can also clog or damage recycling machines, further hindering recycling efforts and harming recycling rates. Replacing these elements with image-based identification will make the recycling process more efficient and save reusable items from the landfill.

Under the new PPWR rules, the majority of packaging will have to fulfill strict recyclability criteria. Image-based serialization and identification can improve recycling on this front too, providing a way to trace items that is less prone to error and enables a more accurate history of when and where things have been recycled. This data can provide important insights into recycling habits, use and recycling rates of certain materials, and hold producers accountable by shedding light on their recycling practices.

Enabling Reuse

Accountability and transparency are key in effective recycling and reuse programs. A critical element of the PPWR aims to make producers responsible for the entire lifecycle of their packaging, including collection, sorting, recycling, and reuse. By digitally fingerprinting packaging with nothing more than a photo, producers can make progress towards these goals by tracing packaging along its journey from creation to initial customer, and through multiple controlled and traced reuses. Data collected during this process can be used to determine how many times an item has been reused and when it has reached the end of its useful life and should be sent to recycle.

Optical AI can also help producers protect the integrity of goods throughout their lifecycle by revealing when packaging isn’t real or legitimate, or in fact if legitimate packaging is being used to sell fraudulent products. More than ever, companies and consumers want to feel assured that items are legitimate, ethically produced, sustainable, and are part of a circular economy. With fraudulent goods topping $3 trillion globally, it’s clear that current identification and traceability systems fall short in this regard. Optical AI can shine a much needed light on the full lifecycle of a product, bolstering reuse efforts.

Reimagining Packaging Transparency, Traceability, and Trust With Optical AI

The time is now for companies to embrace technological advances to create a future where sustainable and reusable packaging is the norm. When companies embrace sustainable practices, they send a strong signal to consumers that they are committed to taking a proactive stance on environmental challenges that future generations will likely face. And as an added bonus, these practices improve these companies’ bottom line. Sustainability is no longer a ‘nice-to-have’ but an industry-wide standard. Technologies like optical AI-based serialization can help producers reduce waste, improve recyclability and reuse of packaging, and measure progress, while bolstering transparency, traceability, and trust throughout the lifecycle of a product.

About the Author

Roei Ganzarski is CEO of Alitheon, whose FeaturePrint® technology bridges the gap between the physical and digital realms by offering solutions for no-touch serialization, enabling traceability, identification and authentication. Learn more at https://www.alitheon.com.