Digimarc Digital Watermarks Proven to Achieve More Accurate Sorting of Packaging Waste

HolyGrail 2.0 semi-industrial trial demonstrates effectiveness of digital watermarks in recycling.

BEAVERTON, Ore., March 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Digimarc Corporation (Nasdaq: DMRC) joins AIM – European Brands Association in announcing a significant milestone in the Digital Watermarks Initiative HolyGrail 2.0.

With an average detection rate of 99%, results from the recently completed semi-industrial trial clearly demonstrate that Digimarc's technology performs exceptionally well across all tested categories of plastic packaging material in conditions representing routine industrial operations. Even in harsher conditions – with higher belt speed and severe soiling and crushing – Digimarc digital watermarks maintained performance.

As governments and industry groups move toward circular economies for recycling and reusing plastics in consumer packaging, there is a critical need for a means of accurate and reliable automatic identification to classify and sort various packaging materials during the recycling process that works at scale, even in the harshest of conditions.

"These results emphatically prove that Digimarc digital watermarks can transform recycling," says Digimarc CEO Riley McCormack.  "What's more, Digimarc® Recycle, powered by Digimarc digital watermarks, provides the industry additional business value in addition to this core, critical enablement of a circular economy.  With the exceptional performance of Digimarc digital watermarks now validated, we are excited to partner with sustainability leaders to drive meaningful impact to the planet, as well as their businesses."

Read the official announcement.

About Digimarc

Digimarc is a global leader in product digitization, delivering business value across industries through unique identifiers and cloud-based solutions. A trusted partner in deterring digital counterfeiting of global currency for more than 20 years, Digimarc illuminates a product's journey to provide intelligence and promote a prosperous, safer, and more sustainable world. With Digimarc, you can finally see everything. And when you see everything, you can achieve anything. For more information, visit us at digimarc.com.

About Digital Watermarks Initiative HolyGrail 2.0

The Digital Watermarks Initiative HolyGrail 2.0 – driven by AIM - European Brands Association and powered by the Alliance to End Plastic Waste – is a pilot project with the objective to prove the technical viability of digital watermarks for accurate sorting of packaging waste as well as the economic viability of the business case at large-scale. Digital watermarks are imperceptible codes, the size of a postage stamp, covering the surface of consumer goods packaging and carrying a wide range of attributes. The aim is that once the packaging has entered a waste sorting facility, the digital watermark can be detected and decoded by a high-resolution camera on the sorting line, which then – based on the transferred attributes (e.g., food vs. non-food) – is able to sort the packaging in corresponding streams. This would result in better and more accurate sorting streams, thus consequently in higher quality recyclates benefiting the complete packaging value chain.

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