When you founded Polytag, were you setting out to solve a recycling problem, or anticipating a future where data becomes the currency of circular economies?
Not quite the above. I had just started working at GS1 – the global standards agency and at the same time had two young children who ate a lot of yoghurt. I remember standing at the sink rinsing out yoghurt pots for recycling thinking “this better be worth it, but how can we prove it”… and then it became clear that the proof could only come from every actor in the supply chain using global open standards to act as a continuous source of truth for everyone working to make circular economies a reality.
I wrote a strategy for GS1 that saw accelerated adoption of GS1 global standards to enable sustainable, circular economies. Around the same time and as part of my research for the GS1 strategy I met Phil Sutton and Brendan O’Neill who were delivering Digital DRS pilots at the time. The rest is history.
Was there a particular moment in building Polytag that fundamentally changed how you think about leadership or risk?
I’m an idealist. Around about 2023 we knew (through proven scaled pilots) that the Polytag platform could enable circular economies through consumer incentives, enhanced sortation and adoption of Global Open standards. But it’s not enough to be able to do the right thing. It has to be the right thing and make commercial sense. That’s what I’ve spent the last few years getting comfortable with and striving to achieve for our clients.
For decades, recycling performance has largely been estimated rather than proven. Is Polytag helping expose a gap between corporate sustainability claims and operational reality?
We talk a lot about closing the data gap and closing the value gap at Polytag. We are the only solution to capture barcode level proof of disposal and barcode level proof of recycling. Through on-pack labelling via QR codes and invisible UV tags the Polytag platform can capture with GPS level accuracy the point where a container was placed in a bin for recycling or reuse or refill or repair purposes. And using the invisible UV tags we are also the only way of capturing barcode-level proof of presence of material in recycling centres. This data points close the ‘data gap’ that has existed forever in the second half of the circular economy. It’s mad really… so much data exists about product and packaging from point of manufacture up to point of sale… but then nothing.
It is such a huge commercial opportunity to be able to treat waste as an asset and track it. And then you can also get it back. Millions of segregated sorting options exist to collect packaging and product at end of life so you can manage ‘pure’ single stream materials properly and maximise their value. Similarly using enhanced optical sorters detecting invisible UV tags on packaging in recycling centres now enables ‘pure’ single streams of plastics to be sorted… food grade PP? Possible; Flexibles with a melt-flow temperature range of x? Possible; PET part of a DRS scheme? Possible; HDPE made from a particular generation of recycled material? Possible. And every enhanced sortation we achieve means we can raise the value of that material… and that makes circularity pay.
Do you foresee a point where sustainability data is treated with the same rigor as financial reporting, and how might that reshape leadership accountability across FMCG and retail?
If packaging becomes an asset at every point throughout the supply chain then general accounting practices will have to shift and everything from linear supply chain practice upwards gets reworked. I talked about this at length on a very early podcast I did with The Pick List – Julia Glotz, episode 62 March 2022. Under that circumstance – when there is value at every point of the packaging lifecycle – then yes, you need financial reporting to track packaging assets.
How do you balance the commercial imperatives of a VC-backed business with the mission-driven goals that sit at Polytag’s foundation?
Find yourself investors that have an investing strategy aligned with your mission. Our investors know that sustainability is a commercial imperative, they recognise that in the long-run the Polytag platform and solutions make circularity make financial sense, and they invested with confidence. Rightly so. Our growing list of clients and increasing number of scaled proof-points – across Europe and beyond demonstrate that focussing on a sustainability mission that also delivers positive commercial outcomes for businesses is a great thesis for choosing which businesses to back!
Many organisations still operate under linear supply-chain assumptions. What advice would you give leaders trying to embed circular thinking across the full product lifecycle?
Get a cross-functional team appointed and give them a mandate to deliver. Some of the best companies we have worked with have recognised the need to connect people across their organisation and remove siloed thinking. Having been a consultant for several years at Deloitte, and worked across large FMCG businesses to deliver digital transformation programmes, I totally understand the complexity. But I also understand the imperative. Sustainability is a cross-functional outcome. And even more so if you are not just paying lip-service. If you want circularity to pay – and it absolutely can – it needs to be treated as a commercially focussed programme with good governance and empowered decision makers who have a budget. And like any good programme delivery office… don’t shy away from measuring the ROI.
I can confidently say that adoption of Polytag solutions has ALWAYS had a positive ROI outcome for our clients. That’s why they are still with us and we are still striving to do things in the most cost effective way, in a way that builds lasting brand equity.
What have been the most surprising leadership challenges in scaling a technology-driven sustainability business globally, and what lessons would you share with peers building in similar sectors?
I am continually shocked that very, very senior people in huge organisations have no power and no budget. They have job titles that sound really impressive, and should arguably come with a mandate for shaking things up, challenging the status quo… but you peel away the facade and they are in a bullh*t job. And I can’t understand it. It must be so frustrating to be in a totally impotent role where you just go around talking to people and achieving nothing but sound bites.
The team at Polytag are the opposite of that. We absolutely get things done. We are very proud of our track record of not hanging around, we make things happen and continually strive to make the circular economy a reality with the clients and partners we have been fortunate enough to meet who have the gravitas and the funding to drive meaningful change and tangible results. Connecting an ecosystem and building the change we want to see. Don’t come and talk to me if you don’t have the mandate or the budget. I’m done with timewasters. We have no time to loose.