How track and trace technologies are evolving to help tackle plastic pollution

While innovations such as automated waste sorting or alternative materials open opportunities in addressing plastic pollution, they have yet to be scaled effectively due to cultural, regulatory, and market-specific barriers. In a previous blog, we argued that Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies are maturing fast, yet their deployment to critical environmental issues hinges on how visionary leaders drive collaborative and inclusive action.

One of the critical applications of emerging technologies that will contribute to establishing a better plastics economy is traceability. We have set out to identify the challenges in addressing plastic pollution, and the actions needed to unlock its full potential.

The World Economic Forum recently collaborated with Accenture to identify opportunities for a more effective deployment of 4IR technologies to address plastics pollution. This blog is part of a series illustrating the initial insights developed. We are grateful to our partners and communities for their views.

Track and trace technologies are a cornerstone in an improved plastics value chain, enabling companies to verify recycled content, ensure regulatory compliance and build consumer trust. Consumers, as key stakeholders, increasingly demand transparency and sustainable practices, making trust a vital driver of brand loyalty. By empowering informed choices, these technologies align company operations with consumer values, fostering long-term engagement. Here are a few key opportunities:

These examples from the Circulars Accelerator alumni network illustrate how traceability can directly contribute to reducing waste, improving accountability and ensuring the proper reuse of materials. Without traceability, building a new plastics economy is unachievable as it provides the foundation for monitoring material flows and preventing plastics from slipping through the cracks of the recycling system.

While traceability has made inroads into revolutionising the plastics economy, several significant challenges are stalling its progress.

First, there is insufficient funding. Despite an investment of $190 billion in plastic circularity from 2018 to 2023, only $5 billion went toward digital solutions, like traceability, which is critical for scaling these technologies. Worse, emerging markets, responsible for 84% of global plastic pollution, received just 6% of total investment, leaving vast areas under-resourced despite being high-need regions.

These funding gaps are often exacerbated by prolonged piloting. Many traceability solutions remain confined to pilot stages, either because companies are hesitant to commit to large-scale rollouts or because traceability startups are stuck serving single anchor clients. This lack of scalability often prevents solutions from becoming widespread, stifling innovation and hindering the broader adoption of traceability.

Further complicating matters is regulatory uncertainty. Companies are wary of investing heavily in traceability solutions because of the ever-shifting regulatory landscape, particularly in areas like Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). Regulations may change, potentially rendering large investments obsolete. This regulatory flux can push companies to stick with traditional, short-term approaches like certifications or stakeholder relations, which don’t require as much upfront cost and risk.

Moreover, while the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations in November 2024 in Busan, South Korea, underscored the challenges of a fragmented regulatory landscape, the continuation of discussions at INC-5.2 in August 2025 offers renewed hope. Delegates now have the chance to revisit critical measures, such as limiting plastic production, and work toward bridging the divide between oil-producing, developing, and other nations. This progress signals an opportunity to make pivotal decisions that could provide businesses with greater clarity and alignment with future global policies.

Scaling traceability has proven difficult as not all stakeholders along the value chain are convinced of its merits. Many businesses are focused on short-term cost-benefit analyses, overlooking the return on investment (ROI) that traceability can deliver through enhanced compliance, operational efficiencies, and consumer trust. In general, traceability should be positioned not as a standalone goal but as a secondary function that enables broader objectives, such as sustainability, circularity and risk mitigation. Additionally, while data is increasingly available, there is little infrastructure in place to tap into it effectively. Data interoperability remains a major bottleneck, with many platforms unable to communicate with each other. Without common standards or frameworks to govern data sharing, meaningful insights from this data remain out of reach.

Lastly, market differences present further challenges. Emerging markets, where informal sectors dominate waste management, are especially hard to serve with traceability technologies. The lack of formal infrastructure and trust in digital systems makes it harder for traceability to gain traction in these regions, despite the need being the highest there.

While these challenges are significant, they are not insurmountable. Here are three key approaches that could unlock traceability’s full potential:

The journey towards building a new plastics economy is complex, but traceability plays a vital role in this transformation. While challenges like funding gaps, regulatory uncertainty and data infrastructure remain, solutions exist. By fostering partnerships, agreeing on data standards, and creating a stable regulatory environment, traceability can unlock its full potential. Moreover, traceability has the unique ability to connect with other emerging technologies, such as automated waste sorting and alternative materials, creating a holistic, integrated system that will redefine how we manage plastics throughout their service life.