Plastics recycling has stepped into the non-fungible token (NFT) arena, after a Spanish hotel group, Grup Soteras (Barcelona; www.grup-soteras.com) snapped one up to compensate for its plastic usage.

The NFT in question – called The Forest, by artist Steinar Kvam and backed by recycled material from Spanish recycler Plásticos Güell (Barcelona; www.plasticosguell.es) – was sold via the marketplace, Plastiks Platform, created by Nozama (www.nozama.green).

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are cryptographic assets on a blockchain with unique identification codes and metadata that distinguish them from each other. Unlike cryptocurrencies, they cannot be traded or exchanged at equivalency.

Nozama said the Plastiks marketplace is where single-use plastics (SUP) packaging producers and recyclers could connect plastic production, commercialisation and the recycling process “to guarantee that the production of plastic will not end up improperly discarded”. Plastic tokens will be used to allow recyclers to mint, list, and sell NFTs called Single Use Packaging Guarantees. A Plastik token balance will be required to access these functionalities, said Nozama, and buyers of NFTs will have the option to buy the tokens with Plastik.

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Benet Pena Guilera, a director at Grup Soteras, said the purchase of the Plastiks NFT “demonstrates the company’s willpower and aim to be environmentally sustainable”.

Nozama said its Plastik operation recently signed a deal with Costa Rica-based ecoins (www.ecoins.eco/inicio/), a loyalty programme which rewards commitments to the recycling company and has a large ecosystem of recyclers across the region.