Today we interview José Carlos Miñana, CEO and founder of one of our featured startups, QRtracing, dedicated to packaging and packaging waste traceability systems, based on blockchain-QR technology.
What problem does your startup address and what solution does it propose?
Given the need to reduce the environmental impact produced by the use of the packaging we find on the market, two fundamental challenges arise, among others: increasing reuse and optimising recycling management.
To face these challenges, it is necessary to know traceability and control the flows in the processes to which they are subjected, throughout their useful life. QRtracing proposes a solution that is easy and quick to implement, based on reading QR codes, which can be housed on labels, seals or printed directly on each container.
Our platform will collect the necessary information to know in real time and in a geolocated manner: number of containers placed on the market, own and remote stocks, types of packaging and composition, delivery certifications, content, complete history of its entire useful life, reports of documented incidents, number of reusable packaging cycles and final valuation.
QRtracing is ideal for both SDDR systems for reusable packaging and for linear processes for single-use packaging, and an effective tool for SCRAPS (Collective Systems of Extended Producer Responsibility), SIRAPS (Individual Systems of Extended Producer Responsibility), distributors, packers, holders and managers. QRtracing is adapted to provide a solution to the requirements of the new RD 1055/2022.
How and why did you start this entrepreneurial adventure? Any advice, fruit of your experience, that you want to communicate to future entrepreneurs?
In 2019 we were developing a project based on identification and geolocation using QR codes and we were selected by Juan Roig’s business accelerator “Lanzadera”, where we had the opportunity to learn first-hand about the trajectory, successes and challenges they faced. prominent companies, whose managers gave talks and conferences with their corresponding afterwork. At one of these conferences, whose speaker was the director of a multinational chemical industry company, we detected the need to control the traceability of the reusable containers they marketed, and we saw the possibility of providing solutions by applying our know-how. After contacting different companies in the sector and obtaining the necessary feedback to reaffirm this need, we patented the system and applied the “Lean Startup” methodology, managing to launch an MPV, test the viability of the project and improve it in an iterative process, taking into account It takes into account usability, adaptability, scalability and without losing sight of the new European regulations regarding packaging and packaging waste.
The advice I can give to future entrepreneurs based on my experience is: base your project on a real, proven need, never on intuitions. Perseverance and consistency are the keys to success.
How do you expect the sector to evolve? And, what expectations do you have regarding your startup?
The huge amount of packaging that ends up in our rivers and oceans or in uncontrolled landfills predicts a terrible future for us if we do not react, get involved and take the necessary measures. To achieve this, awareness and the application of demanding regulations are essential to promote eco-sustainable development, promoting solutions such as eco-design, the digitalisation of processes, and the gradual increase in the reuse and recyclability of industrial, commercial and domestic packaging.
To comply with the new RD 1055/2022 that will come into force in 2025, it will be mandatory for packagers and producers to comply with the RAP (Extended Producer Responsibility), being responsible for controlling the flow of the containers they put on the market.
Given the expectations and maturity of our validated system, we are convinced that QRtracing will provide a solution to the sectors involved in the different processes and will contribute to complying with the new RD, since it ensures the traceability of packaging, simplifies its recovery, and enables its reuse. and provides the necessary information for optimal recovery and recycling management at the end of its useful life and becoming waste.
Any news in the near future that you want to share with the rest of the startups?
We are working on the development of new functionalities to integrate them into the QRtracing platform based on AI and related to the prediction and measurement of the carbon footprint.
In what areas would you like to collaborate with other startups, companies or other organisations?
We can add value, be complementary and generate synergies with SCRAPs, SIRAPs, with companies or corporations that use POOL systems such as manufacturers of industrial packaging or service packaging such as pallets, or waste managers. We are open to collaborating with any company or organisation that allows us to do our part to achieve a more eco-sustainable future.