Extrusion International 3-2022

14 Extrusion International 3/2022 INDUSTRY NEWS  R-Cycle starts into a new phase as an open community. The frst offcial general assembly was held on May 3, 2022 at R-Cycle member Multivac's corporate site in Wolfertschwenden, Germany. R-Cycle was founded in 2020 as an initiative of various technology com- panies and organizations along the entire life cycle of plastic packaging with the aim of establishing a digital traceability standard in the market for plastic packaging via digital product passports. This prepares the technical basis for more precise waste sorting and higher-quality recycling to drive an effective circular economy. Dr. Benedikt Brenken, Director of the R-Cycle Community, explains, "Now that the development and testing of the technical infrastructure has been successfully completed in spring 2022, the rollout is taking place. From now on, R-Cycle is accessible as an open community for all companies, institu- tions and stakeholders that have a legitimate interest in the feld of cir - cular economy for plastic packaging and want to use, support or further develop R-Cycle themselves." Right at the start of the community, the circle has grown by 6 more com- panies to now a total of 19 members. The community offers access to a broad network of application-expe- rienced partners and know-how in digitalization and sustainability. In ad- dition to the general assembly at man- agement level, the exchange takes place via specialized working groups that deal specifcally with the various application areas of digital product passports. The R-Cycle platform can be networked with all common soft- ware systems as well as a wide vari- ety of production equipment - from flm or injection molding machines to processing, printing and flling ma - chines to waste sorting and recycling systems. The traceability technology behind R-Cycle is based on GS1 stan- dards - the leading global network for cross-industry process development and a founding member of R-Cycle. By providing a digital product pass- port, all recycling-relevant data is au- tomatically recorded during the pro- duction of plastic packaging andmade retrievable via suitable markings (e.g. digital watermarks or QR codes) on intermediate and end products. This allows waste sorting facilities to ac- curately identify packaging and form recycling-friendly and single-variety fractions. In addition to improving product sustainability, manufacturers and processors of plastic packaging also beneft in terms of process ef - fciency, quality and compliance with legal information requirements. Interested companies can obtain all membership information at: www.r-cycle.org/r-cycle-community First General Assembly – Start for the R-Cycle Community GuidoSpix,ManagingDirectorMULTIVAC: “Wehada livelydiscussion regardingR-Cycle's strategic goalswithin several presentations andahigh-profile roundtable. Digital product passports offer enormous potential for an efficient circular economyof plastic packaging. Amongother things, they enabledata-based and thusmoreprecisewaste sorting inorder toobtainhigher-quality recyclates, aswell as data-optimizedproductionprocesses.Weare looking forward to thenext steps!” Dr. Benedikt Brenken, Director of theR-Cycle Community: "R-Cycle is not a concept, but a proven solution thatwearenowbringing to market together fromour strong community. Thefirst general assemblyhas already shown howmuch innovative spirit ourmembers bring to the table to leverage thepotential of digital product passports for plastic products as part of anefficient circular economy." (Picture: R-Cycle)