Digital Product Passports for Electronics

Enhancing Recycling with IOTA Technology

TL;DR:
The Electronics Digital Product Passport solution prototype provides a transparent and traceable record of electronic devices from manufacturing to recycling. It ensures data integrity, regulatory compliance, and sustainable recycling practices, supporting the circular economy in the electronics industry.

The EU has proposed creating a digital product passport (DPP) as part of its sustainability and circularity efforts. This digital tool will help businesses, authorities, and consumers share and access product-related information more transparently and efficiently. You can find out more about the EU’s proposal in this summary by the CIRPASS Project.

As part of the IOTA Foundation’s work for the European Commission-funded European Blockchain Pre-Commercial Procurement, funded by the European Commission, we’ve developed two pre-commercial applications for DPPs. Each DPP is focused on different circular economy scenarios, leveraging blockchain technology for data traceability and auditability: this blog post describes a DPP for electronic goods and e-waste management.

Why do Electronics Need a Passport?

Digital Product Passports (DPPs)  ensure transparency and traceability in the lifecycle of products – including batteries as in the case of the Eviden Digital Passport Solution powered by IOTA.  In a circular economy, the lifecycle of electronic devices typically follows the following stages:

• Raw Material Acquisition stage: Raw and secondary materials are used to create parts.
• Production stage: These parts are assembled into devices at factories and sold by various brands. Each device usually has a unique identifier, such as a serial number, which is often accompanied by information sheets detailing its composition, features, and maintenance, repair, and recycling instructions.
• Use stage: Devices may be repaired, upgraded, reassigned within an organization to a new use, disposed or transferred to a new owner.
• End-of-Life Treatment stage: Devices are either dismantled for parts, recycled to reclaim materials, or disposed of in landfills.

Each stage is linked to documents that authenticate and record the events and are recorded in a DPP. These details enhance the accountability and verifiability of these processes and can also motivate and reward those involved to recycle their devices.

Electronics Digital Product Passport Solution Prototype

In collaboration with the Technical University of Catalonia and eReuse, we've developed tools, integrated with IOTA Smart Contracts, to capture crucial data about electronic goods. The resulting DPP tracks the lifecycle of electronic devices from manufacturing to recycling

A DPP can cover various product types: from primary and secondary materials to components, assembled modules, brand-new products, and individual products with specific configurations and usage histories. In this use case, we focused on unique electronic/ICT products.

The Journey of an Electronic Device's DPP

The following fictional narrative illustrates the journey of an electronic device through the Digital Product Passport system, showcasing how each step utilizes IOTA DLT technology to maintain transparency, integrity, and verifiability throughout the device's lifecycle.

1. Manufacturing
   A leading electronics manufacturer – let's call it TechMakers Inc. for the purposes of our story – begins the journey by producing a batch of laptops. Each laptop is assigned a unique Chassis ID (CHID) and Product Hardware ID (PHID) to ensure its traceability throughout its lifecycle. Using the DeviceHub application, TechMakers Inc. creates a Digital Product Passport (DPP) for each laptop, capturing comprehensive details such as technical specifications, serial numbers, and eco-labels. This critical data is then notarized on the IOTA Layer 2 (L2) Smart Contract Chain, making it immutable and verifiable. According to the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme in its country, TechMakers Inc, also pays an EPR deposit for each product it brings to market to cover part of the recycling costs - this will be claimed later by the recycler.
2. Distribution
   Once the laptops are ready for market, DistribuTronics, a distribution company, takes over. DistribuTronics receives the laptops and records proof of purchase and invoices into the DPP system. Using their authorized credentials, they update the DPPs via DeviceHub, adding essential distribution details. Every update triggers a transaction on the IOTA Verifiable Data Registry (implemented as a smart contract), ensuring that every step of the ownership and distribution chain is auditable and transparent.
3. Retail
   Next, the laptops arrive at ElectroMart, a popular retail chain. Consumers purchase the laptops and access their device's DPP using a QR code sticker attached to each device. By scanning the QR code with the DPP Viewer webpage, consumers can view detailed information about their device, including warranty and user manuals. This transparency is made possible by the verifiable data stored on the IOTA Verifiable Registry, ensuring consumers have access to authentic and immutable information.
4. Maintenance and Refurbishment
   As time passes, some laptops may require repair or maintenance. FixItTech, a renowned repair service, steps in to replace faulty components, such as an SSD drive. When this happens, the PHID changes and FixItTech updates the DPP to reflect the new configuration, effectively generating a new DPP for the updated device. This change is recorded on the IOTA Verifiable Registry, preserving the history of the device’s previous configurations while ensuring transparency and traceability.
   
   In another scenario, RenewElectro, a company specializing in refurbishing electronic devices, takes older laptops and upgrades them, extending their useful life. RenewElectro issues new DPPs for the refurbished laptops, detailing the updated specifications and components. These refurbishment operations are meticulously recorded on the IOTA Verifiable Registry, showcasing the transparent and traceable process of upgrading the devices.
5. Recycling
   Eventually, when a laptop reaches the end of its useful life, it is handed over to EcoRecycle, a company dedicated to environmentally responsible recycling of electronic devices. EcoRecycle processes the laptops, marks them as e-waste, and records proof of recycling on the blockchain. To cover part of the recycling costs, EcoRecycle can now claim the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) deposit paid by TechMakers Inc. as it brought the laptops to the market. The DPP Search Engine allows verifiers to confirm the recycling proof submitted by EcoRecycle, ensuring that the recycling event is recorded on the IOTA Verifiable Registry. This step is crucial for maintaining the integrity and verifiability of the recycling process.

Ensuring Trust and Transparency

To ensure the entire process is robust and trustworthy, an auditing firm - let’s call them GreenCert Auditors- verifies the recycling proofs submitted by the recycling company. Using the verifiable data from the IOTA Verifiable Registry, GreenCert confirms the recycling events and releases recycling rewards to the recycling company. This verification process leverages the IOTA Verifiable Data Registry to ensure the authenticity and integrity of the recycling data.

Throughout this entire journey, the DPP system leverages IOTA’s distributed ledger technology (DLT) to ensure that all device-related data is notarized, immutable, and verifiable.

The EBSI Trust Framework and IOTA Identity Library handle the registration and verification of decentralized identities and credentials, ensuring only authorized actors can update or access specific non-public detailed DPP data. Smart Contracts on the IOTA ledger manage the lifecycle events of devices, from manufacturing to recycling, recording every operation to provide a transparent and auditable trail. The VC-ABAC-Oracle transforms claims in verifiable credentials (for instance, a company’s VAT number or activity) into attributes on the IOTA Smart Contract Chain, enabling role-based access control and ensuring secure and authorized updates.

Blockchain for Recycling

The Electronics DPP solution prototype represents a groundbreaking approach to managing the lifecycle of electronic devices, ensuring transparency, traceability, and sustainability.

By leveraging IOTA, the DPP creates an immutable, verifiable record of each device's journey from manufacturing to recycling. Not only does this enhance consumer trust and regulatory recycling compliance; the transparency and verifiability of product information in the market promotes accountability and responsible repair, reuse, and recycling practices for a more circular economy. As the electronics industry continues to grow, the adoption of such innovative technologies will be crucial in addressing environmental challenges, making the circular economy more transparent and accountable, and fostering a more sustainable future.

Our Technology Adoption Team is leading the commercialization of the DPP for electronics prototype solution in collaboration with a network of partners - our first market-ready solution is the recently-announced Eviden Digital Passport Solution powered by IOTA – to track the lifecycle of physical and virtual products: from (automotive) batteries (for electric vehicles and beyond), plastics, rubber, tires, and chemicals to electronic or virtual assets such as intellectual property rights. For more information about these opportunities, please contact [email protected].