The RECOUP Summit 2026 – Session Write Up

AI as Infrastructure: Data‑Driven Recycling and Reuse Systems

Speakers:

Anthony Hornsby – Partnerships & Communication Manager, Sherbourne Recycling

Jo Liang – CEO & Co-Founder, Cauli Ltd

Rahul Bhogasara – Technical Account Manager, Greyparrot

The “AI and the Future of Plastics” session brought together three organisations that are redefining how the UK manages waste, each demonstrating how data, automation and system-level thinking can address long-standing inefficiencies in recycling and reuse. Together, the speakers presented a clear picture of how AI can enable a more transparent, higher-quality and materially efficient circular system.

Sherbourne Recycling opened the session by outlining their uniquely integrated approach, built through a partnership with eight founding local authorities. Their advanced, AI-driven materials recovery facility (MRF) demonstrates what is possible when infrastructure, policy alignment and real-time data come together. With 75% of materials passing through the plant without human contact, Sherbourne has created a model that prioritises material quality and consistency. The results are significant: PET contamination has dropped from 35% to just 5%, HDPE is achieving Level 2 food-grade outputs, and the facility has proven that flexible plastics can be recovered from fully commingled waste streams. Their “living lab” generates granular insight on how packaging behaves in real conditions, feeding back into design improvements and offering a blueprint for a more evidence-driven recycling ecosystem.

Greyparrot expanded on the data theme, demonstrating how computer vision at scale can transform operational efficiency within MRFs. Their 15–20 AI analysers per facility classify materials based on brand, size, category and composition, identifying contamination and enabling dynamic system adjustments. The move away from NIR toward RGB cameras allows for richer analysis across 11 waste classes and 12 categories. This data not only optimises plant performance in real time but also becomes a powerful asset for brands and policymakers. Through their Deepnest platform, Greyparrot translates waste stream data into insights that support packaging design, EPR compliance and consumer transparency – filling a major evidence gap in the sector.

The session concluded with Cauli, who demonstrated how AI can achieve similar transformational benefits in reuse systems. Cauli focuses on large campuses (corporate offices, educational facilities, NHS trusts) where behaviour, accountability and operational complexity often limit the success of reusable packaging. Their AI-enabled return kiosks eliminate friction points: users make quick scan-and-drop returns, while the system tracks damage, wear and usage cycles through edge-based image recognition. The result is a 99% return rate and substantial operational cost reduction. Cauli’s reuse data also supports future policy frameworks such as EPR and digital deposit return systems, illustrating how reuse infrastructure can evolve from a manual, failure-prone model into a reliable and data-rich part of the circular economy.

Collectively, the three speakers outlined a future built on high-quality data, automation and design-aligned infrastructure. The session highlighted that AI is not a discrete “add-on” but a foundational tool for creating the consistent quality, transparency and system-level optimisation needed to make circularity commercially viable at scale.

Scaling Sustainable Alternatives: Material Innovation, Policy and System Compatibility

Speakers:

Jonathan Edmunds – Sustainability Director, Woodly

Neil Court-Johnston – Chief Executive Officer, ReZorce

Anup Pala – New Product Development Manager, Pulpex

The “Materials of Tomorrow: Innovation Driving Circular Change” session at the RECOUP summit brought forward a set of material innovations that challenge conventional thinking about plastics, fibres and barrier technologies. Across all speakers, a shared theme emerged: the next phase of circularity will be shaped not only by recyclability, but by the intersection of performance, policy and system-level compatibility.

Woodly opened the session by presenting Woodly’s wood-based, non-compostable, mechanically recyclable material designed to compete with traditional plastics while offering a lower-carbon profile. The product can extend shelf life for fresh foods by up to three days, creating value beyond sustainability claims alone. However, the discussion quickly shifted to the realities of scale: sourcing currently relies on virgin wood, and achieving price competitiveness requires both market maturity and policy clarity. Concerns were highlighted around the forthcoming 2028 PPWR recyclability grading system, which may categorise materials outside PE/PP flexibles as lower-performing. The group explored the functional benefits that could offset cost – such as food waste reduction and the need for compatibility testing, better LCA methodologies and potential breakthroughs via compatibilisers.

The conversation then turned to EVOH‑based barrier innovations, with ReZorce outlining how density‑reduction techniques and multilayer structures can balance high packaging performance with environmental impact. Injecting CO₂ or nitrogen into polymers was highlighted as a means of reducing material density by up to 20%, while multilayer constructions incorporating EVOH were shown to deliver extended shelf life of up to 12 months in aseptic applications. Early lifecycle assessments indicate meaningful reductions in energy use, water consumption and global warming potential, and RecyClass certification suggests that recyclability can be maintained when EVOH content is carefully controlled below critical thresholds. The discussion also situated these developments within the context of the UK’s forthcoming Extended Producer Responsibility framework, noting that hard‑to‑recycle materials are expected to face rising compliance costs under the polluter‑pays principle. Design choices such as EVOH content levels, printing coverage and material combinations were identified as having a significant influence on recyclability outcomes, reinforcing the importance of designing packaging that performs effectively within existing collection and recycling systems.

Pulpex closed the session by explaining its push toward fibre-based bottles, driven by the uneven global recycling performance of plastics. The company has passed Cepi recyclability tests and demonstrated that fibre bottles can match or outperform PET in moisture and oxygen barrier performance using water-based coatings. With a 40-million-unit production site planned in Glasgow, Pulpex emphasised that fibre sources matter: LCAs favour recycled fibre over virgin, and global fibre demand could escalate rapidly as brands pivot toward alternatives. Cost competitiveness also looms large – Pulpex aims to undercut glass and approach PET parity at scale. Their trials with multiple fibre types, successful sorting tests and expanding industry interest point to a rapidly evolving category.

Together, the session painted a nuanced picture of the alternative materials landscape. Innovation is advancing quickly, but system compatibility (across recycling, policy, cost structures and LCA methodologies) will determine which solutions ultimately succeed. The speakers collectively demonstrated that material innovation is no longer simply about replacing plastics, but about designing packaging that works harmoniously across performance, environmental and policy dimensions.

Rebuilding the UK Recycling System Breakout Session

Speakers:

Ethar Alali – Managing Director, ReallyRecycle

Ahmed Detta – CEO & Founder, Enviroo

Alice Rackley – Chief Executive Officer, Polytag

The “Rebuilding the UK Recycling System” session at the RECOUP summit presentation brought together three complementary perspectives – technology‑driven decentralised circularity, infrastructure‑aligned recycling reform, and digital traceability for brands – to outline how the UK can replace its still largely linear waste system with a modern, commercially viable, transparent circular economy. The speakers illustrate both the structural problems of the current system and a blueprint for a radically more efficient future built on decentralised manufacturing, advanced reprocessing, data transparency, and aligned national policy.

The opening session, led by Ethar Alali of ReallyRecycle/Automedi, painted a vivid future where waste is eliminated entirely. This vision is made possible by decentralised micro‑manufacturing hubs that turn local waste into new products, closing the loop between consumers, recyclers, and manufacturers by treating waste as a currency.

Ahmed Detta of Enviroo re-inforced that UK recycling is structurally mis-aligned with modern material flows. He noted that recycling facilities behave like industrial assets, not policy levers and require predictable feedstock, stable policy, guaranteed offtake and transparent data.

Demand for recycled content is rising faster than domestic capacity. This creates supply pressure, price volatility, and reliance on imports – rather than stimulating domestic growth. The solution, Detta argues, is expansion of high‑grade domestic recycling infrastructure such as the new Enviroo facility in Liverpool.

The final session, led by Alice Rackley of Polytag, focused on data, with the circular economy only working when materials have value, and only be realised if actions are measurable. She noted that Polytag enables brands to tag each packaging unit with QR codes or invisible digital markers and track it through its entire lifecycle. This helps to build consumer trust, drive higher recycling and reuse rates, create product level insights, influence policy with accurate evidence, and help meet emerging digital product passport requirements. Polytag’s Ecotrace is already deployed in 14 UK MRFs providing unprecedented visibility into materials, sortation, and recovery.

Together, the three sessions created a unified transformation model for a UK plastic recycling ecosystem where waste is a high‑value resource, reprocessing is domestic and technologically sophisticated, manufacturing is local and low‑carbon, and consumers are engaged and rewarded.