Case Study: Ecoembes achieves higher recycling rates and reduces plastic waste with Zebra SE4757 scanning solution

Reducing Plastic Waste Through Smart Technology

Ecoembes is a Spanish non‑profit that coordinates household packaging recycling and runs RECICLOS, a return‑and‑reward programme in over 100 municipalities that incentivises citizens to recycle beverage bottles and cans. The challenge was to guarantee traceability—identifying who is recycling, what and when—while deploying a user‑friendly system on outdoor, power‑constrained containers exposed to weather, movement and limited retrofit space.

Retail Tools developed a retrofit smart enclosure that works with Ecoembes’ app, using NB‑IoT for user recognition, a solar‑charged lithium battery and a robust Zebra SE4757 OEM imager to read 1D/2D barcodes in harsh conditions; a teleservice streams device health data. Piloted on 16 containers in Sant Boi, the self‑sufficient solution is easy to maintain and early results show higher use of containers, reduced landfill waste and most users opting for community rewards.

Ecoembes

Jose Luis Moreno

Innovation Manager