RFID News: Economy and Sustainability

How green is RFID?

In these days of environmental consciousness, what are RFID's green credentials? Is RFID a net positive or negative contributor to the campaign to help the planet?

Notwithstanding the list of possible negative effects above, when you look at the work being done by RFID solutions to help the environment, IDTechEx believes the balance is strongly in favour. Yes, RFID tags can be eco-unfriendy in some limited circumstances, but technology is helping to build a greener world, by:

• Reducing vehicle emissions
• Monitoring the health of wildlife
• Protecting indigenous fauna
• Encouraging container reuse
• Conserving energy use in buildings
• Improving waste disposal
• Encouraging recycling
• Protecting the sea floor

Importantly, most examples also have an economic benefit, which will encourage further deployment.

HIDE-Pack: An Innovative and Sustainable Approach to RFID-Enabled Packaging

It consists in embedding an RFID inlay within the structure of a package, so that the inlay is not visible from the inside or the outside of the package. Effectively, the RFID inlay becomes an integral part of the packaging medium. The HIDE-Pack process results in significant capital and labor saving for all users of packaging from consumer goods to perishable commodities.

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