# Trace recycled plastics across the value chain

> Chemical company BASF launched the blockchain pilot project reciChain in partnership with Kryha and the Brazilian recycling NGO Recicleiros. The platform aims to ensure transparent and reliable traceability of plastics throughout the entire recycling value chain. By capturing material flows on a shared ledger, the initiative supports improved sorting, recycling, and circular economy integration for plastic waste.

**Sector:** Tertiary sector · **Industry:** Waste management and recycling · **Organisation:** BASF, Kryha, Recicleiros · **Maturity level:** Pilot

Canonical URL: https://www.sapientblock.com/en/use-cases/basf-recycelte-kunststoffe-entlang-wertschoepfungskette-nachverfolgen

## Documentation status

- **Project status:** Pilot
- **Evidence:** Evidence medium
- **Editorial review:** pending

## Description

The chemical company BASF, in collaboration with the technology company Kryha and the NGO Recicleiros, developed the reciChain platform to make material cycles for plastics transparent. The application uses blockchain technology to securely record every step from waste collection through recycling to reprocessing. This allows all involved companies to comprehensively verify the origin of secondary raw materials and the processing stages they have undergone.

The reciChain initiative was launched by BASF to address one of the central challenges of the circular economy: the lack of reliable data on the origin and quality of recycled plastic. Together with Kryha and Recicleiros, a platform was designed and practically tested in pilot trials in Brazil and Canada. Using decentralized data storage, sorting, cleaning and processing events are securely documented for all participants in the supply chain. This enables brand owners and recyclers to legally prove the actual recycled content in end products and simplify certification processes. The project demonstrates how digital infrastructures can effectively support industrial cooperation between chemical companies, waste disposal firms and civil society organisations.

## Benefits

- Facilitated compliance with regulatory proof obligations
- Increased trust between trading partners regarding material quality
- Reduced risk of misleading environmental and recycling claims
- Enhanced transparency of material flows in the circular economy
- Forgery-proof proof of recycled content in end products
- Improved collaboration between waste disposal companies, processors and the chemical industry
- Simplified documentation processes during material acceptance
- Reduced administrative effort through a unified data basis

## Challenges

- Integration of existing ERP systems into the blockchain solution
- High coordination requirements between actors with different levels of digitalisation
- Standardisation of material criteria along international supply chains
- Need for training operational staff in sorting facilities

## Technology foundation

The solution is based on a decentralized blockchain platform that securely records material transactions and processing stages between waste disposal companies, recyclers and manufacturers.

## Sources

- [BASF introduces innovative pilot blockchain project to improve circular economy and traceability of recycled plastics](https://www.basf.com/ca/en/media/News-Releases/2020/01/basf-introduces-innovative-pilot-blockchain-project-to-improve-c)
- [reciChain Canada, pilot program](https://www.basf.com/dam/jcr:a8fb66d7-968e-3e92-9d53-39dae535cbf6/reciChain%20Canada%20Overview.pdf)