Looking Ahead: Digital Product Passports
Looking ahead: Digital Product Passports (DPP)
A digital product passport (DPP) is a digital record of a physical product, containing a structured collection of product related data throughout its lifecycle, containing information around raw materials, manufacturing processes, usage data, repair history and recyclability. DPPs aim to advance the transition to a circular economy and thereby support sustainable economic growth.
The European Union (EU) is moving forward with mandatory DPPs for certain products categories by 2027, starting with batteries, and possibly electricals and apparel. By 2030, the EU aims to expand DPPs to around 30 product categories. Despite their being no mandate for DPPs in the UK as of May 2024, the UK has its own circular economy strategy that aims to reduce waste and encourage more sustainable product lifecycles, therefore DPPs could align with this.
DPPs will be used to create transparency among the value chain, enhancing product traceability, facilitating sustainable practices and allowing informed decision-making among consumers, manufacturers and regulators.
The draft legislation suggests each product placed by a business on the EU market will need to carry its individual information passport. Stakeholders’ holders will be able to access the DPP through data carrier e.g., bar code or QR code linking a unique product identifier.
The key aims of Digital Product Passports?
- Enable transparency of key product related information for greater sustainability and circularity. This will in turn help to accelerate the transition to circular economy, helping to improve material and energy efficiency, extending product lifetimes, and optimising the product across its lifecycle e.g., through design, manufacture, use and end of life handling.
- Stimulate new business opportunities to economic factors through circular value retention and optimisation. For example, product-as-a-service, improved repair, servicing, remanufacturing, and improved recovery of materials.
- Support consumers to make sustainable choices.
- Allow authorities to verify compliance with legal obligations.
What will you need to do as a business?
When implemented this will have huge implications globally as products imported in the EU will require passport level information and it is likely the legislation will inspire regulation globally.
1. Engage with supporting regulation development to help shape future legislation with industry perspective.
2. Create an action plan ensuring allowance for developments in technology, existing systems and data collection.
3. Identify current product data availability, determining gaps or missing data. Collaborate with your supply chain to support future data collection.
Beyondly offer Product Carbon Footprints (PCF), which measures the embodied carbon or greenhouse gas emissions associated with a service, product, or packaging across its life cycle.
4. Create an action plan ensuring allowance for developments in technology, existing systems and data collection.
The regulation is the foundations to more environmentally sustainable and circular products, building on the existing energy focused Eco-design Directive through the development of the more comprehensive DPP. The European Commission (EC) is actively drafting regulations for DPP, with the final approval anticipated in 2024, with staggered implementation of multiple (up to 30) product categories from 2027 onwards.
Product Carbon Footprints
Let our Resource Efficiency and Circularity team measure the carbon and environmental impact of your service, product, or packaging.