Traceability is the ability to follow a material through every stage of its journey, from the place where waste was collected, through sorting, washing and recycling, to the finished product. For recycled plastic, it answers two questions: where did this material come from, and is it really recycled?
It is built from records: purchase receipts at collection centres, weighbridge slips, batch numbers for each production run and sales documents that link granules to the waste they came from. Standards such as EN 15343 define how this is done, and certifications such as RecyClass, GRS and RCS audit it through a chain of custody. Brands need traceability for EPR reporting, for recycled-content claims and to avoid greenwashing. Lucro’s integrated model, with its own collection, washing and recycling, keeps the whole trail in one system.
