RFID Tags Going Green

I recently came across an interesting article on the Food Production Daily website. It seems that RFID tags can be used multiple times, allowing for effective recycling of packaging and tagging.

A study, done in July of this year by the Reusable Packaging Association (RPA), concluded that the RFID tags could be used on reusable packaging without any degradation of performance of the tag. As long as the RFID tag is placed correctly on the container, the tag can make multiple trips on containers and still be readable.

This is very interesting information indeed. The benefits of using RFID tags is multiplied when they can be used over and over again, further lowering traceability costs and the costs associated with food spoilage.

Reusable containers with RFID tags provide several economic and environmental advantages to business that ship food. RFID allows better tracking of products, and combining RFID tags with reusable containers results in a better ROI on the containers. RFID also provides valuable data, the analysis of which provides opportunities for improving supply chain management. For produce and other time-sensitive food products, RFID track and trace can reduce product loss since food is identified and tracked more closely during transport. Reusable tagging also eliminates the labour costs associated with one-way tagging applications.

The economic and environmental benefits of reusable RFID tagging are a win-win situation for all.