Coca-Cola Europacific Partners Deutschland (CCEP DE), Vetropack and Myneral Labs are piloting a process to mark every reusable glass bottle with an individual code, making it digitally traceable.
CCEP DE developed the solution for 0.75-litre bottles of the ViO and Apollinaris brands, with the pilot currently running at its production site in Bad Neuenahr and at a second plant in Lüneburg. The companies say that the new process enables entire bottle inventories to be digitally traced for the first time.
The project was recently awarded the German Packaging Award 2026 in the Digitalisation category, awarded annually by The German Packaging Institute (Deutsches Verpackungsinstitut e. V.) based on the assessment of an independent panel of experts. In the new process, each bottle in the process receives an engraved Data Matrix code, and the serial number is read by AI-powered camera systems on the production line.
The project seeks to create a continuous digital history for each bottle, providing data on how often it is filled and when and why it was removed from circulation. Vetropack engraves the Data Matrix codes directly onto the bottles during glass production and Myneral Labs provides the AI-powered camera technology and the software for data evaluation.
CCEP DE manages the project and its integration into ongoing production operations, and all partners jointly developed and completed the proof of concept.
“For the first time, we are able to track how our containers move through use cycles on an individual bottle basis. This helps us use resources more purposefully and design processes more efficiently,” comments Maika Seidler, senior manager of Digital Innovation & Experimentation at CCEP DE.
In similar news, Kraft Heinz joined Polytag’s Ecotrace programme in April, an initiative aiming to improve packaging recyclability in the UK through UV tag technology. It uses invisible UV Tag technology to capture data on single-use plastic packaging, said to provide real-time insights into whether packaging is being recycled, in what volumes, and through which waste management streams.
This month Aldi and Arla announced the latest phase of a partnership with Polytag to track milk bottles through the recycling process using UV-tagging technology. As part of the process, UV-tagged wraparound labels (printed by Saica Flex and using Sun Chemical’s food-safe fluorescent ink) are applied to Arla’s milk bottles at its Oakthorpe site.
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