Advancing Responsible Recycled Plastics Value Chains Through Traceability and Transparency: Learnings from the Responsible Sourcing Initiative

Traceability is an important building block for responsible sourcing, circular economy systems, and supply chain transparency. Yet achieving end-to-end traceability in recycling value chains can be challenging, particularly where value chains are fragmented and rely on informal actors who play a critical role in material collection and sorting. These challenges can make it difficult to track material flows and understand human rights and labor conditions across the value chain.

Drawing on experiences from the Responsible Sourcing Initiative implementation projects, this insights paper examines lessons from traceability pilots across selected recycling value chains in emerging markets. It explores key lessons and common challenges in implementing traceability, particularly in tracking social compliance, and highlights practical approaches that are both credible and operationally feasible.

Key learnings from the paper include:

• Traceability challenges are not primarily technological; structural, operational, and behavioral constraints across fragmented and informal recycling value chains make traceability difficult to implement at scale.
• Barriers to adoption and scaling include limited incentives for participation, particularly among upstream actors, as well as operational and data governance constraints.
• Embedding traceability within existing business processes and systems, alongside capacity building and alignment with the Harmonized Responsible Sourcing Framework for Recycled Materials, can support effective implementation.
• The projects highlight three practical pathways for advancing traceability: strengthening existing documentation systems, adopting third-party traceability solutions, or developing in-house systems.