Industry
Manufacturing
Future-Ready Manufacturing: Partnering in your journey to a sustainable manufacturing enterprise
Highlights
- The plastics industry stands at a pivotal moment, challenged by mounting environmental concerns and evolving regulations. As the world shifts from linear consumption to circularity, the adoption of digital product passports is reshaping how plastics are tracked, recycled, and valued.
- Tomorrow’s polymer ecosystem will be defined by intelligent platforms—leveraging blockchain, AI, and cloud-native solutions—to deliver end-to-end transparency, regulatory compliance, and sustainable operations.
- We envision the next generation of plastics as traceable, data-driven, and circular, enabling reduced waste, informed choices, and a cleaner, more resilient future.
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Circular economy
Why a polymer passport matters
The rapid expansion of plastic use, closely tied to economic and social development, is driving a significant increase in global plastic waste. With current consumption trends, the world faces mounting challenges in managing this waste stream effectively.
To address these concerns, the European Union has set ambitious targets through the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), aiming for all packaging to be recyclable by 2030, a 15% reduction in overall packaging by 2040, and at least 30% recycled content in PET bottles by 2030. Additionally, the EU mandates that 25% of plastics used in vehicle manufacturing must come from recycled sources, with a quarter of that derived from end-of-life vehicles.
Meeting these evolving regulations requires a fundamental shift in how plastics are tracked and managed. The ‘polymer passport’ solution offers a cutting-edge digital passport, enabling comprehensive tracking and tracing of plastics from production to recycling, and supporting the industry’s transition toward a circular economy.
Polymer passport
The top drivers behind the shift.
The Digital Product Passport (DPP) software market is on a rapid growth trajectory, valued at $189.2 million in 2024 and projected to soar to $991.8 million by 2031. This surge is fueled by several key forces shaping the industry landscape.
First, customer demand for transparency is at an all-time high. Top research firms and companies reveal that 88% of Generation Z consumers remain skeptical of brands’ environmental claims, pushing organizations to provide verifiable product data.
Second, circular economy initiatives are gaining momentum, with over 1.1 million businesses expected to fall under European Union – Digital Product Passport regulations in the coming years. Regulatory momentum is accelerating adoption, particularly in Europe, where the EU’s ESPR mandates Digital Product Passports (DPPs) for almost all goods placed on the EU market.
Finally, supply chain optimization is front and center. Polymer digital product passport offer enhanced visibility across the value chain, enabling organizations to identify inefficiencies, reduce costs, and drive operational excellence.
The solution
Charting new paths: Digital passport for every polymer batch and plastic product.
The polymer value chain is a dynamic ecosystem, bringing together a diverse set of stakeholders:
- Polymer manufacturers serve as the foundation, producing the essential raw materials for downstream industries.
- Original equipment manufacturers and product manufacturers transform these polymers into finished goods, shaping products for everyday use.
- Dealers act as vital intermediaries, facilitating the movement of polymers from producers to manufacturers.
- Consumers represent the end-users, driving demand and influencing product lifecycles.
- Recyclers close the loop, collecting and processing post-consumer waste to reintroduce materials into the value chain.
Each of these independent entities contributes operational data, which is securely captured and recorded on a decentralized, immutable ledger. By aggregating information from manufacturers, product makers, and recyclers, the system enables comprehensive tracking of the origin, movement, and ultimate fate of polymers, delivering unprecedented transparency and accountability across the entire value chain.
Solution topology
Ensuring integrity and transparency of the polymer value chain, from production to recycling.
The key users of the polymer and plastic product passport include polymer manufacturers, end consumers, and recyclers. Each product features a QR code embedded with essential identifiers, such as GTIN, TARIC code, serial, and lot numbers, granting stakeholders instant access to detailed product data in line with defined standards. Through a simple QR code scan, customers gain access to a product’s end-to-end digital record—covering how it was made, packaged, transported, used, and ultimately recycled or disposed of. After use, recyclers can track the same code to confirm the product’s removal from the value chain and return to the manufacturer for reuse. This closed-loop process not only reduces waste but also advances the circular economy.
Consumer decisions
Implementation roadmap for the solution.
The Polymer and Plastic Product Passport is a cloud-native blockchain solution purpose-built to capture and manage digital lifecycle records. By integrating sustainability metrics and Gen AI capabilities, it delivers a holistic view of each product’s journey. The implementation involves key steps: data collection, blockchain deployment, Gen AI integration, and a user-friendly service interface that provides instant and accurate product information via QR codes. This enables end-to-end circular traceability, regulatory compliance, and enhanced user experience.
Through this comprehensive approach, the solution offers a robust, future-ready framework for lifecycle tracking, ensuring transparency, accountability, and sustainability across the plastics manufacturing sector.
Circularity Mandate
Transforming tomorrow: Enduring impacts of digital traceability.
The polymer and plastic product passport are poised to fundamentally reshape the plastics industry, catalyzing the shift to a true circular economy through closed-loop systems. This breakthrough doesn’t just transform industrial processes; it holds the promise of far-reaching benefits for our environment and society at large.
By harnessing blockchain and smart contracts, the solution delivers unmatched transparency and traceability, capturing every stage of a product’s lifecycle. As regulations tighten and consumers demand greater sustainability, organizations that embrace DPPs will lead the way, demonstrating accountability, achieving compliance, and unlocking new avenues for innovation.
Innovation empowers the design of products meant for reuse and recycling, slashing reliance on virgin materials and minimizing waste. Beyond its technological implications, this shift has the potential to drive a deeper mindset change, strengthening transparency, fostering trust, and creating sustained value across ecosystems. It lays the foundation for a future where sustainability evolves from an ambition into a collective commitment, shaping how materials—especially plastics—are designed, used, and valued.
The real question is no longer whether this transformation will occur, but how rapidly industries will act to unlock its potential and reshape the long-term environmental legacy of plastics.