Each RFID tag contains a microchip, aluminium antenna and multiple layers of paper and adhesive, making recycling them complex. Now, through a project funded by Innovate UK’s Net Zero Living programme, start-up company PulpaTronics is developing a new form of RFID tag that promises to dramatically reduce waste and environmental impact, using pioneering technology that replaces the antenna with laser-burned paper.

Co-founders Chloe So, also PulpaTronics CEO, and Barna Soma Biro (CTO), originated the concept while studying for a dual masters Innovation Design Engineering degree. Run by Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art, it examined possibilities for accelerating and commercialising scientific research through design principles and processes.

Driven by their interests in electronics and nature, the founders examined opportunities in bioelectronics, electricity production from waste, and other sustainability initiatives. Eventually, they found a laser process that turned carbon-based material into conductive material. Simultaneous research into single-use electronics and how they might be made more sustainable led them to RFID technology.

Environmental benefits

An RFID tag manufactured using PulpaTronics’ technique is still a single-use electronic item but primarily comprised of easily recycled paper. Chloe terms the current technology ‘hybrid’, since a microchip is still needed, but in time, the team hopes to remove that too, instead storing data in laser-generated geometric patterns.

The laser-burning technique uses a laser to chemically change the paper, creating a conductive material similar to graphite. PulpaTronics has already shown that the carbon emissions associated with the electrically-powered lasers will not reduce the overall environmental benefit of its technology. Compared to making traditional RFID tags, every 1 million PulpaTronics tags will save 2000kg – 2 tonnes – of CO2 emissions.

Chloe explains: “Conventional RFID tag manufacture includes lots of stages. There’s sourcing, mining and shipping the metal, then the chemical etching or laser etching that forms the antenna from the aluminium sheet. There’s heating and pressing to ensure the antenna remains in place, insertion of the chip and lots of lamination. The process requires lots of chemicals and energy.”

PulpaTronics received £97,000 of Innovate UK Net Zero Living Programme funding through a user-focused design competition run jointly with the Design Council. Chloe and Soma had only recently graduated when they won the grant, the first significant injection of funds into the company. It was pivotal.

The grant was so much more than money – it was also advice, personal insight and connections. Through the grant we worked closely with the Design Council, and they gave us pointers on user research, incorporating design in the project and more. Through them we also made industry connections. And winning an Innovate UK grant gives you so much clout, so much credibility. We wrapped up the grant and completed our initial fundraising a few months after. It was all so positive.

– Chloe So, Co-founder and CEO, PulpaTronics

Market interest

Chloe is delighted that retailers care a great deal about what PulpaTronics is doing. “We’ve been lucky to receive inbound requests from a lot of major retailers. They seem to be drawn to the sustainability story and if our product works the same as the RFID tags they are using now they want to switch. But it comes down to cost. They won’t switch unless we’re cheaper. The good news is that we use fewer materials and our production process is simpler.”

The small PulpaTronics team is deep into late-stage R&D and examining paths to commercialisation in a market already served by massive, well-established RFID tag manufacturers. The route to market is therefore through licensing, and the team is working towards building its first automated tag manufacturing machine.

“Once we’ve built the proof of concept machine, we can licence it to be integrated into, say, the manufacturing processes of the label or sticker manufacturers. That will reduce our capital expenditure and allow us to streamline how RFID tags are made and shipped across different factories,” says Chloe.

For now, finding the balance between R&D and commercialisation is the challenge. RFID technology is especially useful in retail environments because it is read by electronic interrogation, it is not directly scanned as a barcode might be. PulpaTronics is working towards achieving the read distance retailers want, while exploring commercial options for the slightly shorter distance it has so far achieved.

Chloe is clear on PulpaTronics’ ambition: “We want to tackle the tags used on the billions of garments manufactured every year. The packaging industry is another untapped market, looking at cardboard boxes and logistics. If we can produce an RFID tag almost as cheap as a barcode, it will dramatically change how items are tracked from origin to end of life.”