Extrusion machinery specialist Reifenhäuser (Troisdorf, Germany; www.reifenhauser.com) said it is now relying on R-Cycle, the digital product passport (DPP) for plastics, which enables its customers to make products traceable. 

All relevant information on the material and processing are stored in the DPP and made available along the entire product life cycle, offering enormous potential for data management in the manufacturing process and recycling of plastics – especially in the packaging industry.

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R-Cycle was founded as an initiative by leading companies, including Reifenhäuser, and organisations along the plastics value chain. It now offers a turnkey software-as-a-service solution for the application of DPPs. Currently, more than 45 industrial companies and organisations rely on R-Cycle as the solution for DPPs.

In addition to providing efficient information in the manufacturing process, DPPs also enable better recycling to recover high-quality recyclates. Using the information stored in the DPP, waste sorting facilities can more precisely categorise recyclable packaging and form recycling-friendly, single-sort fractions. The DPPs can be accessed via suitable markings, such as digital watermarks or QR codes, on the packaging, Reifenhäuser adds.