Interview with Flora Poppelaars: Towards digital product passports in the manufacturing industry

In the coming years, Dutch companies will have to deal with new European laws and regulations. An important part of these are aimed at circularity and sustainability. In practice, it appears that companies are not always aware of what is coming at them and what these regulations mean. A good example is digital product passports. Flora Poppelaars, together with colleagues, took steps in the further development of a guideline for these passports in the manufacturing industry.

First of all, what is a digital product passport?

A product passport is an electronically accessible dataset of product information for companies, consumers and authorities. With this passport, companies within the EU are required to report on, among other things, the composition of a product, the origin of raw materials and the reusability of parts at the end of their useful life. The digital product passport will be an essential tool for recording data on products, such as repair capabilities, recycled material use and environmental performance. The goal is not only to comply with European regulations, but also to enable companies to differentiate themselves and improve their sustainability performance.

Flora Poppelaars on guiding principles for product passports

Flora, senior consultant at Partners for Innovation, sees it as a unique opportunity: "With digital product passports, companies can not only comply with regulations, but also differentiate themselves from competitors and take steps toward a circular economy. Because of the European Green Deal and the Ecodesign for Sustainable Product Regulation (ESPR), among others, product passports are becoming crucial and even mandatory. They provide transparency on things like repair capabilities, recycled materials and environmental performance. But no official format or template is yet available to support manufacturing companies in compiling product passports. As part of the manufacturing industry implementation program, run from Circonnect, we worked with companies, knowledge institutions and industry associations to identify the needs and challenges."

Capital assets and air conditioning systems

Flora: "The focus for this assignment was on two product categories: capital equipment and air conditioning systems. Collecting the right data is a huge challenge for most companies. During interviews and working sessions, we spoke with manufacturers, designers and buyers who will soon have to develop and apply the passport. Thanks to their valuable input and insights, we will jointly work on a solution that fits the reality of their daily processes. This has led to the formulation of the need for a practical guide and template that gives parties guidance and really helps them move forward. Many SMEs don't have people free to keep track of all this."

The next step to broad implementation

Flora: "The companies involved show enthusiasm about the elaboration and see the product passport as a practical and future-proof solution. This provides a solid basis for further implementation and upscaling within the sectors. Cooperation with knowledge institutes and industry associations ensures a broadly supported approach in line with European developments. The first phase has now been completed: the needs have been identified and a plan of action has been drawn up, together with the partners. A new phase has begun: we will implement the plan with chain partners and develop the guidance documents for capital equipment and climate systems. I found it a very fascinating process. It sometimes seems like 3D chess, you're working on so many levels at once."

Do you have good examples or insights you would like to share within the industry? If so, contact f.poppelaars@partnersforinnovation.com or jeannette@circonnect.org.