The European Union adopted a Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP) in 2020 to pave the way for a cleaner and more competitive future. With its 35 action steps, the CEAP is one of the main building blocks of the European Green Deal. The plan tackles the life cycle of a product by targeting the involved process of how products are designed. Ultimately, it aims to ensure waste prevention, sustainable consumption, and promotes the circular economy. Some actions have already been implemented with many more underway. In December 2020, the EU adopted a proposal for new regulations on sustainable batteries, in October 2021 it adopted a rule on organic pollutants in waste, and waste shipments in November 2021. The next areas of focus include sustainable textiles, packaging requirements and industrial emissions. Check out the European Commission website for more background information.
Although these regulations have been put into motion, there’s no standard or designated procedure for how manufacturers and suppliers should actually go about creating these passports. That’s where Toxnot comes into the picture. We’ve gotten ahead of the ball and built the framework. You can create a Product Passport on Toxnot today. Even better, you can share it and find other passports on the Toxnot Exchange, all for free!
So your next thought might be…that all sounds promising but how do I actually create a Product Passport? The answer is right here on Toxnot.
We’ve built the technological framework to create a Digital Product Passport today. The ecosystem where these Passports can be found and shared is called the Toxnot Exchange. The Toxnot Exchange is a place for Manufacturers and Suppliers to come together to manage the data needed to create Sustainable, Circular, and Regenerative products and engage with their customers on the topic. The platform improves information disclosure, reduces the reporting time burden, and increases supplier incentives to start and maintain data disclosures. It equips manufacturers and suppliers with the ability to create and manage Digital Product & Material Passports. Anyone searching on the Exchange can find and share Digital Product Passports created by any of their supply chain partners.
The first step is to import the data you want to be included in your Digital Product Passport. Check out this article on the many types of imports that Toxnot supports, including SDSs, spreadsheets, for either singular products or entire libraries. If you’re missing information in your bill of materials, you can send a survey to your supplier via Toxnot (all for free!) Once you’ve gathered all the data you want to include in your Digital Product Passport, start the ‘Publish Passport’ workflow and you’re on your way! See this article for a step by step of creating a passport.
Your Toxnot Product Passport can include a wide variety of information fields including, a bill of materials; compliance statuses for regulations including EU REACH, RoHS, Cal Prop 65, LBC Red List; sustainability information such as embodied carbon or water use. You can attach any relevant documentation whether it is a certificate or SDS/MSDS.
Sources
European Commission, “Circular Economy Action Plan”, https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/de/ip_20_42, accessed Jan. 18, 2022.
European Commission, “European Green Deal,” https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_de, accessed Jan. 18, 2022.
Global Battery Alliance, https://globalbattery.org/battery-passport/, accessed Jan. 18, 2022.
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