As part of our Sustainability Awards Finalist Interview series we spoke to co-founder and CEO of Reelables, Brian Krejcarek, about its 5G Smart Label for shipment tracking, nominated in the Commercialized Renewable Materials category.
You’re a finalist in the Sustainability Awards 2024. Congratulations! To start off, could you summarize your entry, in less than 50 words?
For the first time, the 5G Smart Label from Reelables, a paper-thin 4x8 shipping label, functions as the tracking device connected to a cellular network to track the billions of shipments made worldwide each year.
Why do you think the judges were impressed with your entry? Tell us about what is innovative about your project and/or about its impact on packaging sustainability.
Until now, tracing goods as they move through the supply chain has largely been a black box. Barcodes require manual scanning and shipment information may need to be entered by hand at various points in the supply chain, both leading to potential human error.
The result is often a mismatch between the record of information and reality. A worker could miss a scan or steal a package. If that’s a box of pharmaceuticals or high-value goods, it becomes a very costly problem. Legacy GPS tracking devices are not a great alternative, as they are expensive, necessitate out-of-process workflows, and require reverse logistics.
Reelables 5G labels stand out among other solutions in this category because they automatically collect actual location data from the cellular network data and trigger events from the moment a shipment arrives or departs a warehouse or waypoint, or an exception is detected.
They also generate inventory counts, providing a complete warehouse audit nearly every minute or less. Logistics providers and end users such as retailers and manufacturers know in real time where every piece-level item is in the supply chain with 100% accuracy. Our 5G label allows cargo forwarders to print and link a label with IP protection.
The underlying technology is a reel-to-reel thin-film manufacturing process that enables us to make ultra-thin and cost-efficient wireless circuits into smart labels. Reelables is the first company to bring to market a printable cellular label that is so thin and flexible it can be printed on like ordinary labels.
Reelables is also the first to directly integrate coated zinc batteries on the underlying label substrate, making them more sustainable and significantly impacting packaging. Compared to existing tracking devices on the market using lithium batteries, the zinc-based battery chemistry enables Reelables labels to be airplane-safe and disposable at scale, so they don’t require special processing as e-waste.
Finally, can you tell us about the ongoing development of your project, e.g. how your innovation/initiative has been received by the industry, or what the next steps are in commercialization/product development?
A significant and sustainable advancement achieved by Reelables is the transition away from traditional printed circuit boards that at the end of their life must be treated and especially disposed of as e-waste.
Reelables has developed a way of coating an environmentally friendly zinc battery in a way that shares the same thin-film aluminum packaging substrate, forming the circuit powering Reelables labels. The primary materials, aluminum and zinc, are benign common Earth metals.
No lithium or toxic electrolytes, or heavy metals are incorporated into the label design, meaning it can be disposed of in ordinary waste streams. Another benefit of the zinc battery instead of lithium is that the labels are not classified as dangerous goods and can go on airplanes.
A key part of the core technology is the integration of a coated zinc battery on the same substrate shared with a wireless circuit, enabling the thin and flexible form factor of the smart label and its thermal printability.
Reelables is already in mass production today, with these new smart labels being manufactured completely on paper. In future, the company aims to enable the most efficient supply chain so that no manual work is required, and supply chains can be zero-touch.
It will be through AI algorithms and full automation from the data derived from Reelables Smart Labels that we can achieve the lowest carbon footprint of moving hundreds of billions of pounds of goods around the world.
The winners of the Sustainability Awards 2024 will be announced at the Sustainable Packaging Summit, taking place in Amsterdam on 12-13 November. The Summit mobilizes leaders of the FMCG value chain, policymakers, NGOs, recyclers and investors to collaborate, remove barriers and identify opportunities on the road to sustainable transformation.
To learn more or register, visit: https://www.packagingsummit.earth/2024
If you liked this story, you might also enjoy:
The ultimate guide to the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation in 2024
How are the top brands progressing on packaging sustainability?
Sustainable Innovation Report 2024: Current trends and future priorities
Everything you need to know about global plastic sustainability regulation
No comments yet