Just like how human passports verify where you come from, we can now track every product to its roots with the help of Digital Product Passports! If you haven’t heard of these, here’s what you need to know:
The objective of having a Digital Product Passport is to recognise the raw materials used in creating a product, its packaging, its supply chain, and its overall environmental impact. This information is shared with all stakeholders (Brands, Traders, Recyclers, Consumers & more) in the value chain.
Here’s how it’s helping all stakeholders:
End consumers can easily access this data at their fingertips with the help of scanning a barcode just from their smartphones. The ultimate goal is to offer transparency and traceability of a product lifecycle. In the end, it is implemented to see if businesses are managed sustainably or not.
DPP will offer significant details on the source of materials, carbon footprint, percentage of recycled materials used, product lifetime, and guides to recycle/ reuse/ upcycle the existing product. It enables designing ‘waste’ out of systems accelerating circular business models.
Why should Brands look at implementing DPP:
While it may seem overwhelming to implement a DPP, brands can become sustainability leaders. They are creating a tighter loop system that prevents products from ending up in landfills. Also, this lets businesses achieve their sustainability targets as well. This will enable businesses to bring in end-to-end sustainable solutions.
As brands furnish meticulous data points on the product lifecycle, it empowers end consumers with trustworthy sustainable claims. Brands gain a competitive edge by retaining their customers’ trust and loyalty. Eventually, it’s a win-win situation for both parties.
While India might be far from making Digital Product Passports mandatory, it has a great potential to enable businesses to adopt tech, have a database, and create a loop to follow for all the stakeholders – brands, manufacturers, recyclers, aggregators, and end consumers.
