M&S has partnered with recycling technology company Polytag to trace the journey of plastic packaging, including drinks bottles and cartons.

As part of the process, invisible tags will be printed onto containers, which will be traced by electronic readers at Polytag’s recycling centres, The Guardian reported.

The tagged products will start to appear in stores within the next three months.

While there are currently two readers at recycling sites in Teesside and north Wales, M&S is to fund the installation of two more at centres in Northern Ireland and Edmonton, north London, while the Welsh government is funding readers at three more sites in the country.

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Polytag is eyeing more than 12 sites, which will account for half of all single-use plastic household waste recycled in the UK in a year’s time, as it hopes to bring on board additional retailers to help fund further readers.

While this collaboration with M&S marks the first full-scale use of Polytag’s system, the recycling tech firm has previously tested parts of the scheme with Aldi, Ocado and The Co-op.

Last June, Ocado and Co-op started trialling invisible UV tags that track recycling data across milk and water products, while Aldi also began its trial last July.

Polytag chief executive Alice Rackley told The Guardian: “There is a massive single-use plastic crisis and we have got to start collecting data about it and to use that to try and sort it out.”

She said that the scheme allows for items such as plastic pots and bottles which once contained food to be separated more easily, with these items worth more than those contaminated with household chemicals.

While it cannot check on the recycling journey of products travelling overseas or ending up in landfill, Rackley added that the system could see if waste disposal partners are handing plastic correctly.