Digital product passports as enablers of digital circular economy: a framework based on technological perspective

Abstract

Taking into consideration the existing Industry 4.0 infrastructures and the rise of Industry 5.0 (I5.0), more and more solutions are being developed, aiming towards increased environmental consciousness through advanced technologies, and human centricity. However, there are ongoing requirements on data traceability, and access to the related actors, to ensure the establishment of sustainable solutions, within the context of a digital circular economy (DCE) environment. Digital product passports (DPPs) constitute such novel technological solution that can enable the transition toward DCE and sustainable I4.0 and I5.0, as digital identities that are assigned to physical products, capable of tracing their lifecycles through data such as their technical specifications, usage instructions, and repair and maintenance information. Although the respective research community has started providing a thorough analysis of DPPs potential to constitute a CE enabler, their technical requirements are still unclear. As part of our contribution to this issue, we propose a fundamental CE framework with integrated DPP characteristics, with the potential of being adapted in different sector stages for the generation and distribution of DPPs both for stakeholders and consumers. The corresponding solution is further supported through a systematic literature review that follows a technological approach to the DPPs implementation.

How the Digital Product Passport Can Lead the Plastics Industry towards a Circular Economy—A Case Study from Bottle Caps to Frisbees

“…Essential components for a well-functioning DPP are the ways of data exploitation (tagging of products), the choice of database used, efficient ways of data curation (data denoising and data cleaning), data sharing concepts, and finally the leverage of all collected data [16]. Plociennik et al [17] identified information requirements, collaboration along the value chain, product identification, and fulfillment of legal obligations as the main requirements for establishing a DPP.…”

“…Voulgaridis et al [16] propose a cloud-based digital passport version consisting of a two-layer structure, Passport Generation and Digital Passport, which allows the separation of business-sensitive and consumer-relevant data. In the Passport Generation phase, all production data from different business partners are provided and collected separately in a closed system to increase data security and trustworthiness.…”